


Firestorm

by NotEvenCloseToStraight



Series: Of Gods and Men [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Feels, BAMF Tony Stark, Bonus Chapter, Canon Divergence - Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Fluff and Angst, Good Loki (Marvel), Happily Ever After, Hela isn't totally Terrible, Hurt Tony Stark, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Kidnapped Thor, King Thor (Marvel), M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Odin (Marvel)'s Parenting, Of Gods and Men, Protective Tony Stark, thunderironfrost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:41:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27597695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenCloseToStraight/pseuds/NotEvenCloseToStraight
Summary: After battling Thanos at the end of "Frost", Thunderironfrost is ready to leave the team and Earth behind to return home to Asgard... and then everything goes wrong.A portal opens and Thor is snatched to some great beyond by an unseen force, and Tony and Loki can't save him. Tony's powers start to destroy him from the inside out, eating at his mortal body and compromising his mental stability. Loki tries to cope with potentially losing both his loves at once and everything only gets WORSE when the search for answers requires a trip to a distant realm... and a visit to a long lost sibling.(Note: Reading Storms and Frost is necessary to understand this fic!)
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark/Thor
Series: Of Gods and Men [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/802626
Comments: 75
Kudos: 290





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ParanormalMoonlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParanormalMoonlight/gifts), [annoniemous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/annoniemous/gifts), [Light_of_Dawn19](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light_of_Dawn19/gifts), [Bookworm105](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookworm105/gifts).



> Welcome to the long planned part 3 to Storms and Frost!  
> I hope it has been worth the wait!

After Thanos— after the war came to earth and unleashed havoc on the ill prepared humans, after the monsters and horrors from the edges of the universe clashed on mortal battlegrounds, after the monuments humans had erected for their own glory fell tumbled and turned to dust, after the carnage had ceased and bodies lay mangled and rotting in fields, in cities and homes and what had used to holy places because in war there were _no_ holy places-- 

\--after the Titan had fallen beneath the strength of super soldiers, beneath the cunning of super spies and supreme sorcerers, after he had been burned with flame and frostbite and cut in two when the god of thunder took the Titan’s own double sided blade and sliced his head clean off--

\--after the enemies had been turned back and Earth had been vacated of all things alien, after what was left of Thanos’s army spread word that the blue planet was protected by lightning gods and demons of fire and ice, after the human turned to each other and began rebuilding the pieces of their decimated lives--

\-- after all _that_ , Captain Steve Rogers shaved the last of his beard away, cut his hair and cleaned the gore from his shield, burned his bloodied uniform and kissed the super soldier he loved and went to find Tony. 

He was here as a friend, as a teammate, as someone who should have apologized ago but had only recently come to terms with his history, with _their_ history, with what Siberia and choosing Bucky had cost him. Steve went to Tony as a friend ready to try and put the past behind them, ready to move forward as Avengers to help rebuild the world. The war with Thanos had taught the brash Captain humility, had reminded him that all life-- even _his_ life-- was fragile and that the years could slip away in anger and resentment and one day he would wake up and it would all be wasted. 

Once upon a time Steve had thought he and Tony could have been something...something more than just teammates and sort of friends. But there had always been fights, there had always been sarcasm and challenging each other and then Bucky had come home and everything had gone to hell. And he hadn’t handled it well, Steve had _not_ handled it well. The words patient and thoughtful hadn’t described Steve back before the war and they certainly hadn’t described him for much of this century either but things were _different_ now. 

_Steve_ was different now, and the half hearted apologies he’d offered before Tony had gone to Asgard were no longer acceptable. The awkward conversation and stilted explanations were no longer acceptable. Tony had returned from a virtual paradise to save Earth alongside Steve and Bucky and the rest of the team and such a selfless action deserved recognition and praise and-- and another attempt at an apology. 

_I just don’t care anymore_. Tony had told Steve before leaving for Asgard. _I don’t care about any of this anymore._ He had gestured between them, to Bucky to out where the rest of the team had been. _I don’t care anymore._ Tony had found happiness with Thor and didn’t care to agonize over Siberia or the shattered team or Steve’s ego anymore and at the time the words had left Steve cold and hurt and... maybe a little jealous because once upon a time, he’d really thought he and Tony could-- maybe they could--

“Captain.” 

Steve pulled himself from wayward thoughts when Tony cleared his throat and spoke, startled when he realized he’d walked right into Tony’s rooms without noticing and now Tony was standing there with a smirk and raised eyebrows waiting for him to pull it together. 

“Ah. Sorry.” Steve held up his hands and backpedaled, automatically trying to give Tony the space he’d ~~screamed for~~ insisted on the last time they had been in the Compound in a semi-domestic setting. The war with Thanos had forced personal grievances to the rear but now they were face to face in calm and all Steve could think about was how _badly_ Tony had needed space last time around. 

Tony had needed _alot_ last time around, and Steve hadn't been able to give him anything.

"...Sorry." He said again, slower, quieter because he knew it wasn't enough. "I didn't mean to intrude." 

“No harm done, it wasn't like the door was closed and you barreled right through it." Tony was calm and unaffected by Steve’s presence, dressed only in a towel slung low at his hips and the perfectly healed skin where his arc reactor used to sit. A year ago he would have hidden the scars beneath layers of clothing, hell a year ago he would have flinched away from Steve’s voice, or put a hand to his aching chest and grabbed for Thor’s hand for comfort--

\--but Tony from a year ago and Tony today were two different men. 

“What did you need, Steve?” Tony called his fire to just below his skin, heating up until he glowed rosy and the water droplets disappeared in a hiss of steam. “How did clean up go today, is the Compound put back together?” 

“For the most part.” Steve tried not to stare at Tony steaming, but it was so _surreal_ to be standing together with Tony smiling, whole and healed and flexing his recently acquired powers casually. “The perimeter is up and secure again and the team is taking up posts in the nearest town tomorrow to try and work there.” 

“Good.” Tony ran his fingers through his hair and vaporized what was left of his shower until the strands were dry and fluffed out. “Pep runs all the Stark Tech things these days, so just contact her for whatever you need to get things going again. There were charity and aid organizations already in place through Stark Industries, and I’m sure she’ll move quickly to fully fund them again. The world should be back to normal in no time, right?” 

Steve hesitated and Tony crooked a smile at him. “Or whatever passes as normal these days, right? Don’t know how 'normal' things will be after finding out about aliens and Titans, but I’m sure you guys will handle it just fine.” 

“...us guys?” The Captain looked away when Tony reached for a pair of pants. “I assumed you and Thor and Loki would be staying to help for a while.” 

“You assumed wrong.” Tony tugged a shirt on and signaled for Steve to turn back around. “Why would we stay?” 

“Earth is your home, Tony.” Steve didn’t mean to sound incredulous or disapproving but it came out that way all the same and he grimaced, worked to soften his tone and try again, “I know you’ve found happiness with Thor and Loki, but Earth is _home_. We are your people. I can’t believe you would leave when so many need your help.” 

“There are charity and aid organizations already set up.” Tony echoed his previous statement and wrinkled his brow at Steve. “Pepper can sign checks with six and seven zeroes on it at a time, and I’m pretty sure that would help more than me hammering up drywall to rebuild the post office.” 

“Iron Man is a symbol of hope though. Of rebuilding and overcoming impossible odds.” Steve interjected. “It would mean a lot to everyone to see you out there alongside the rest of the team.” 

“I’m not Iron Man anymore.” Tony looped a necklace around his neck, one Thor had given him on one of their first nights in Asgard. “I came back to Earth to fight Thanos as Anthony of Asgard, mate to Thor Odinson and Loki Laufeyson, to let my fire rage alongside Thor’s storm and Loki’s frost. I’m not Iron Man, I’m barely Tony Stark anymore. You don't need me as a symbol of anything.” 

“Tony--” 

“Steve.” Tony put his hand up to stop the Captain, and blew out a deep breath. “Steve, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, I really do. I see the effort for what it is and I gotta tell you-- there was a time when you considering me valuable and actually asking me to stay alongside you and the rest of the team would have gone a long way. There were even a few days before everyone came back to the Compound that I would have given just about anything for us to let bygones be bygones and just move right on. I missed you and I missed the team but..."

There was a flicker in Tony’s eyes and for just a second, he looked like the same Tony that had stood in the Quinjet the first time they met and recoiled in disappointment when Steve was so short with him. Then the flicker was gone and it was _Anthony of_ _Asgard_ standing there instead. 

“There are no hard feelings between you and I, Steve.” Tony motioned between their bodies, chin up and eyes sparking in determination. “Siberia was a life time ago, the fighting between you and I was a life time ago. The team is back together, the world survived Thanos and now I’m ready to go back home with my mates. You don’t need to apologize for ancient history, you don’t need to try and make amends by making space for me in a capacity I no longer want. It’s fine. We're _fine_.” 

“Ancient history.” Steve repeated. “Tony, what happened in Siberia still keeps me up at night. Me and Bucky have talked through it and worked through it and tried and tried to move past it but it still bothers me. It still bothers _him_. You’ve never let him properly apologize or--or let me properly apologize and-” 

“If it still bothers you, then that’s on you.” Tony shrugged. “I’ve moved past it, Steve. Past the what if’s and the wonderings and the anger. I’m done.” 

The words were slower this time. “...And I understand why you did whatever it took to keep Bucky safe.” 

“You _understand_?” 

“Not so long ago I had the chance to make sure that Loki was always safe.” Tony said carefully, almost vaguely. “I traveled to a place where he’d been held and hurt, I confronted those who hurt him and I did whatever it took to make sure they would never hurt him again.” 

“Tony--” 

“I know it was only the barest shred of friendship that kept you from killing me in Siberia.” Tony shook his head when Steve tried to interrupt. “I used to think it was all about you turning your back on me and our team and driving us apart but then I fell in love with Loki and Thor and I realized your actions were about protecting Bucky, protecting who you loved. That’s all it came down to. Nothing to do with me, everything to do with Bucky. I get it.” 

“You get it.” Steve echoed blankly. “What does that mean?” 

“You stopped short of killing me.” Tony touched his healed chest where Steve’s shield had once shattered his sternum. “But if it would have been me in your shoes trying to protect who I loved, I wouldn’t have stopped. I _didn’t_ stop. When it came time for me to face the ones that had hurt Loki, I didn’t stop.” 

Tony’s palms glowed red and Steve swallowed hard when flames lit above Tony’s fingers. “I melted those monsters into the rocks and left the rocks as ash.” Dark eyes lit bloody red as Tony smiled grimly. “You stopped in Siberia, but now that I know what it feels like to watch the one I love be hurt, I can tell you I understand, I can tell you I would not have stopped. I don’t even want an apology for you going after me as a teammate, or not listening to me when I tried to keep the team together. I don’t care anymore. I would burn the world down if someone came after either of my mates. For that reason alone, we never have to talk about it again. I've moved on, and if you haven't then that's on you." 

“...oh.” Steve’s mouth went a little dry when he saw the remnants of _rage_ still flickering in Tony’s eyes. “Tony, what you did to the ones that hurt Loki--"

“I won’t be staying here to rebuild Earth.” The flames disappeared with a snap of Tony’s fingers and he went back to putting on socks and shoes as if he hadn’t just admitted to mass murder. “Home is where the heart is. Your heart and home is with Bucky. My heart and home is with Loki and Thor. I am their _hjartslattur_ , their heartbeat, and they are mine. Nothing else matters.” 

“Well said, my love.” Loki came through the door just in time to hear the last few sentences and he cut narrowed green eyes at Steve before reaching for Tony and bringing him in for a slow, sweet kiss. “You are warm, darling. Have you been burning today?” 

“Drying myself off from my shower.” Tony laughed when Loki made an _interested_ noise and slid a big hand beneath his shirt to reach skin. “Nothing more, I think I used enough fire on Thanos, don’t you?” 

It was in that moment that Steve realized two very specific things-- First, that Tony wasn’t lying when he said he didn’t care about Siberia anymore, when he said he loved Loki enough to understand why Steve to turn his back on the entire world for Bucky’s sake, and _second_ that Tony hadn’t told Loki about the creatures he had killed.

Interesting… and _frightening_. 

“My loves.” Thor came to the room next, clapping a friendly hand on Steve’s shoulder before he moved to kiss Loki and then to kiss Tony as well. "I need to bathe and we can ready ourselves to return home. Are you ready?" 

“Right now.” Loki answered impatiently, snapping his fingers and glamouring into his Asgardian clothing, cape swirling around his feet and crown set in his dark hair. "Right now. Take us _home_ , Thor." 

"Your lack of patience is one of my favorite things about you." Tony informed the Trickster god and Loki murmured, "My lack of patience is what will return us home and to our bed sooner rather than later Anthony." 

"Annnnd that's why it's my favorite thing about you." Tony wrinkled his nose teasingly and Loki finally laughed at him. "Thor, we're supposed to have dinner with the team tonight, but we can leave immediately after." 

“I’ll gather what’s left of our things in the common area.” Loki blinked out of the room in a split second, and Thor lingered only long enough to kiss Tony one more time before he disappeared into the bathroom and turned the shower on. 

“So, did you need anything else, Steve?” Tony turned and hid a yawn in his hand. "Apparently we're leaving real soon so make a wish before all the magic is gone, huh?" 

"Tony." Steve studied Tony carefully, struck by just how _tired_ the brunette suddenly looked. With Thor and Loki, Tony had been bright eyed and quick to smile but now that it was just them, he looked… weary Almost drained. "Hey, are you alright? You look half dead." 

"Charming as always, but don't ask questions about things you don't really care about." There was no censure in Tony’s tone, and he made a concentrated, visible effort to stand straight again. “I'm fine. I'm always fine. Just uh-- I'll see you at dinner with everyone else?" 

“...sure. See ya.” 

* ************

Dinner with the team was a quiet affair. After Thanos brought so much horror to their every day reality, the normal lighter hearted snarking and teasing had fallen away, even between Sam and Clint who were usually driving each other and everyone else crazy with their terrible jokes and ill timed wit. Bucky never talked much anyway, and after he’d slid so quickly into violence when faced with Thanos’s army, the former Winter Soldier was even _quieter_ now. Wanda and Vision always kept to themselves, Natasha couldn't keep from darting uneasy glances towards Loki, and Since Colonel Rhodes and Pepper had both left the Compound this morning, there was a distinct lack of comfortable conversation surrounding Tony and his two mates. 

Not that Tony noticed of course. He was whole heartedly wrapped up in each one of Loki’s smiles and the way Thor kept them both close. Loki broke off a piece of roll and hand fed it to Tony, Thor waited until Loki had taken a drink of wine then leaned in to wipe a drop from his lips and follow it with a kiss. Tony ate happily from both their plates, pushed more vegetables from Thor's plate onto Loki's and then pushed most of Loki's meat onto Thor's plate so they could each eat what they preferred. They moved in perfect tandem, leaning into each other as needed but never really away because their hearts beat as one and it was evident in each breath, each kiss, each quiet laugh. 

Now that Thanos was nothing but a memory, Tony couldn’t wait to get back home to the peace of Asgard, the beautiful rose garden and their comfortable bed. Dinner with the team was more of a formality than anything, Tony had spent a solid hour wrapped up with Rhodey and Pepper and that was all the Earth he needed. He hadn't lied telling Steve he was over everything that happened, in fact being over what happened was exactly why he didn't want to be in the Compound anymore. 

Why stay in a place that only held bad memories when he had an actual _heaven_ waiting? 

“Eat, _elskan min_.” Thor held up a slice of Indunn’s apple and Tony obediently opened his mouth to accept it. This was his favorite time of the evening, when Thor and Loki took turns feeding him pieces of the golden apples that ensured his immortality. It was the sort of thing they only did after dinner and away from prying eyes because it was intimate, special and for only _them_ to know. It always started with soft conversation and quick bites and it always led to slow kisses and drugging touches and the lightning crackling, frost bringing a reminder that he was in love with _gods_ , with celestial beings, with men right from the old stories and legends. 

On Asgard Thor usually waited until they were in bed together to retrieve one of the apples, but here on Earth they settled for a walk around the grounds, across ruined grass and blackened stumps that was everything left of the trees Tony had painstakingly preserved when he first built the Compound. They walked past the empty cavern that had been the pool, past the crater that used to be the tennis courts and through the winding track that was the cross country running path Tony had installed for Steve and Sam. 

The Compound had been obliterated by the battle when Thanos had decided to take the Avengers stubbornness _personally_ and bring the war home. Tony’s barn door protocol had saved most of the actual building itself but the surrounding complexes and bonus areas were non existent, the ground warped beneath the weight of monsters, hundreds of tons of concrete dusted to nothing. 

It was depressing, or at least it would have been depressing if Tony still called the place home. The Compound had only been a happy place for a few months, those few months of peace before Siberia. After Siberia it had only served as Tony’s self made prison- empty halls and dark rooms reminding him that he was alone, unused facilities and bare cupboards that had only been misery. 

Seeing the Compound so destroyed would have been depressing if the good memories over shadowed the bad ones but as it was, Tony’s home was far away, his heart held by two gods who travelled the stars and what happened to the Compound just didn’t matter any more. 

“Darling, you are tired tonight.” Loki slid long fingers into Tony’s hair and scratched at his scalp comfortingly, held Tony’s weight when their _hjartslattur_ leaned back into him. “Eat some more, it will help. You taxed yourself too far with the Titan, and you must eat.” 

“Loki is right.” Thor cut another piece and slid it between Tony’s lips, smiling when their love immediately licked after his fingers. “You are tired and you are trying to hide it from us.” 

“You cannot hide things from a god, Anthony." Loki sighed. "Honestly, I don't even know why you bother trying." 

“Loki is correct of course, but neither should you _want_ to hide your weariness from your mates.” Thor tipped his head obligingly when Tony reached for him, shivered when the little brunette tugged at his hair and brushed it back from his face. “What else is on your mind?” 

“I just want to get home.” Tony sagged against Thor and Loki wound his arm his waist, reached to hold Thor with his other hand so they were all slumped together, leaning into Thor’s strength and letting Tony’s internal fire keep the chill of night wind away. “I just-- I just want to go home.” 

“We will take you home, beloved.” Thor dropped a kiss on Tony’s head. “We will say our goodbye’s to the team and then I will call the BiFrost and take you both--"

The demi god stopped, tilted his head to the south and listened to the roll of thunder in the distance, pitched low and menacing. “Take you both--” 

While he was distracted, Loki tried to finish, “--Thor will take us both home and then you won't be tired any longer, darling. Only at peace at home where we are-” 

Loki paused too, narrowed his eyes at Thor and looked off in the distance where clouds were gathering green and black, roiling out of a cut in the sky and spilling out towards them. “Thor, do you feel that? Do you feel that change?"

“What do you feel?” Tony straightened between them immediately, pushed off of Thor’s chest and out of Loki’s arms. “Thor? Loki? What do you feel? What's going on?" 

“Stay behind me, _elskan min_.” Thor planted one huge hand gently but firmly at Tony’s midsection and pushed him back, held his other hand out to bring Mjolnir to his side. "I don't know what's coming but I do not want you at the forefront. Behind me, love." 

"I'm going to fight with you." Tony snapped his fingers and brought his fire to surface. "I'm not going to stand aside while you two try and take on whatever is coming." 

"Darling, this is not a time to argue with us." Loki let the frost run ice through his veins, shifting into his Jotun form and widening his stance in preparation. "Not when you are tired. Behind us, _please_." 

“Thor--” Tony tried to argue, but Loki interrupted shouting over the now howling wind, "Something is coming! Anthony _move_ \--!" 

“.... _Thor_ ….” the voice was otherworldly, sinister and shrieking, echoing in the emptiness of the Compound yards and cutting through the wind, coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. “... _Odinson_ …” 

“Thor!” Tony _screamed_ when the air suddenly tore in half, when a grasping clutching hand stretched from a portal to _nothing_ to close around Thor’s neck. “THOR!” 

Frost ripped from Loki’s hands and burned along the otherworldy grasp, fire lit from Tony’s palms and singed over Thor’s skin as he tried and _tried_ to fry the creature as it started pulling Thor into the hole. Mjolnir came blasting from inside the compound, breaking through walls and obliterating the few still standing trees as she careened towards Thor and beelined for his still outstretched grasp--

"Hold on!" Tony caught Mjolnir with one hand, scored his fire up along her handle and blazed through her runes, swung around to slam the hammer into the creature's arm--

Too late. 

Thor shouted something strangled as he was yanked backwards into the cosmic tear. Mjolnir slammed down into the ground as she passed too late through nothing. Loki's frost crystallized into a no longer existent portal and turned the rocks behind it to powder.

“No!” Loki leapt for the last hint of fissure in the air as it seared close and the clouds above them settled to nothing. “No no no, what just happened. Thor? Thor!” 

“....L-Lo?” 

Loki was panicking, could feel it building in his throat and clouding up his eyes, but he jerked around when Tony stammered his name again, "Lo something's-- something's wrong." 

"Anthony?" Loki's body went cold and then colder still when the fire at Tony's palms faltered, flickered and extinguished. "What's wrong?" 

"Something's wrong." Tony crumpled to the ground when his legs gave out. "Lo, something is-- I can feel it--" 

“Anthony, my love.” Loki didn’t bother slipping back into his glamour when he ran for their mate, traced shaking blue fingers over Tony's pale face and reached to feel for a pulse that was all too faint. "What is happening? What do you feel?" 

"I-- I'm dying." Tony's dark eyes shifted red in panic, gold as his fire tried and failed to spark again, and then cloudy, awful _gray_. "I can't breathe. Lo I can't-- I can't _breathe_ \--" 

"No." Loki gathered Tony up into his arms. "No no no. Not you too, I can't-- Anthony, don't do this, not after we've lost Thor. Anthony--" 

"Lo, help...me..." 

“Heimdall!” Loki screamed to the sky, bared his teeth and screamed in fear and desperation. “Heimdall bring us back! Bring us back now!” 

The roar of the Bifrost shook the compound and cracked the already compromised foundation, but before anyone inside could come out to see what had caused the disturbance, Loki and Tony were already gone, ripped into the sky and into the other side towards Asgard and safety. 

...and Thor… 

...Thor was just _gone_. 

************

( _Asgard_ )

The healers worked day and night to bring Tony out of the coma, away from the slide towards near death. For _hours_ the mortal wavered gray and barely breathing, through the night his fingertips sparked and twitched as his powers tried and failed to light. At his bedside Mjolnir thrummed and vibrated, the near sentient weapon agitated to the point of physically _moving_ now that her master was missing and her caretaker lay faded and weak. 

“Tell me what is wrong with him.” Loki paced, cape flaring out behind him as he walked the length of the hall outside the healer’s chambers again and again, skin blue and eyes red since his anxiety didn't allow for a shift back to his glamoured form. He was so scared, more than he'd ever been in his centuries of life. Thor was gone, snatched out of their lives and into something unknown in the blink of an eye. Tony was dying there in the bed despite everything the healers tried. Loki was alone, alone like he'd been alone when the Other had held him and hurt him and he was _scared_. 

“Tell me what is wrong!” Loki didn't mean to shout, he meant to scream, he meant to rage and cry because he just didn't _understand_. "What is wrong with Anthony?" 

“My Prince--” one of the advisors stepped away when the walls next to Loki iced in agitation. “Er My-- My King--” 

“No.” Loki whirled around on them, finger pointing and eyes blazing. “No, _Thor_ is our King. You will address me as _Prince_ until we have reason to believe Thor is not coming home again." 

"But My Prince--" 

"Thor is simply missing!" Loki cut his hand through the air to silence the advisor. "Thor is simply _missing_ and I will not hear anything to the contrary. I will find him. All things even half Celestial in this miserable realm know I can and have traversed the skies. I have slipped between the _betweens_ of worlds and found passageways through the impenetrable. I will find Thor if I have to use every one of my powers, whether they be Asgardian, Jotun or deity. You will not call me King until I have brought Thor's body back in my arms, _do you understand?_!" 

“My Prince.” the advisor tried again, hands raised placatingly. “The healers do not know what is wrong with your chosen love, but he is very weak. Time on Asgard has began to heal him, but they are not sure how long it will take. As far as the search for our King--” 

Loki dug his hands into his hair and cursed, and frost lashed from his next breath, cracking the mirrors on the walls and peeling the gold from the decorations. 

“-- for some time, I’ve been aware of a path of destruction cutting through the cosmos.” Heimdall spoke up from behind the councilman, who breathed a quick sigh of relief when just the guardians presence calmed the erratic Prince. “At first it seemed nothing to cause alarm. A ruler gone missing, a previously impervious army cut in half, champion fighters kidnapped through portals to some great unknown. Nothing that is unseemly or out of character as the realms shift between war and civil issues." 

“ _But?_!” 

“But lately the path of destruction has become _more_.” Heimdall touched his temple. “Sometimes I can see the unrest spiraling from a specific source, sometimes it is too far away and too murky to see clearly, sometimes the path and unrest comes from a place too dark for my gaze.” 

“There is only one place too dark for you to see.” Loki stated through clenched teeth. “Only _one_.” 

“Aye, my Prince.” Heimdall agreed solmenly. “Only one.” 

Loki cursed again, and this time the lights in the chandelier popped as the cold shattered them to pieces. "What does this mean, Heimdall?" 

"My Prince?” one of the healers, infinitely beautiful though she was nearly infinitely ancient interrupted the moment, either uncaring that the Prince was apt to freeze her where she stood, or knowing he would respect her enough to corral his anxiety and anger for her to speak. “You may see your _hjartslattur_ now, but he is very weak. Be brief.” 

Loki left Heimdall with a _look_ that had the all seeing guardian murmuring a word of prayer, a word of _mercy_ for where the Jotun Prince would be heading next. 

There were many horrors in the realms, nightmares and monsters and terrible things with terrible intentions. 

But a man who had lost everything was a force unlike any other...

... and Loki was so _close_ to losing everything he had only recently found. 

*************

“Anthony, my love.” Loki knelt by Tony’s bedside and held his hands carefully carefully. “How are you?” 

“What happened?” Tony’s voice was thready, shaky and weak. “Lo where’s Thor? Where’s Thor?” 

“Don’t worry about that right now.” Loki shook his head and held Tony’s hands tighter. “You need to focus on healing, darling. We need to understand what happened to your powers and why they drained you so badly. Perhaps battling Thanos or-- or the stress of being with your team again? Perhaps it was the--” 

“Loki.” Tony struggled to sitting, put his hand to his chest in a gesture more habit than necessary. He was so used to his heart hurting, to his chest aching that when he grieved or worried he still touched where the scars no longer marred his skin, still pressed where the iron bar had held his sternum together for the better part of a year. “Loki, where is Thor? Where is he?” 

“There’s a place.” Loki swallowed hard and leaned in to push their foreheads together. “There is a place too dark for even Heimdall to see and that is where our search for answers must begin." 

"Who--" Tony licked his lips and tried again. "Who controls that place?" 

"A family secret." Loki swallowed back another bolt of choking _fear_ when Tony's already weak grip faltered even more. "...Odin's first born." 

“Odin’s first born.” Tony’s entire body shook through a wheezing sigh. “Thor’s sister?” 

“She is no sister to Thor.” Loki shook his head gravely. “And she is no child of Frigga. She was Odin’s daughter and then she became Odin’s curse a millenia before either Thor or I came to be. But because she is of Asgard, she will be able to trace Thor’s journey through the cosmos and tell us who took him or at least where to find him." 

"When do we--" Tony paused to breathe. "--when do we--" another near gasping breath. "Leave?" 

"I will go alone to ask her help." Loki ran his fingers gently through Tony's hair and brushed cool lips against his forehead. "I cannot risk you being hurt, being further weakened and then lost to me. I won’t risk it. I will go alone." 

“I’m not giving you a choice.” Tony’s skin warmed to hot and then _glowed_ from deep beneath as he struggled to call his powers to the surface. “If this place is too dark for Heimdall to see, then I’ll just have to light a fire and see what comes from the shadows.” 

“This place.” Loki whispered. “This place is the gates of Hel, do you understand? You are still mortal and you might not make it out the other side of the depths.” 

“I’ll make it out with you by my side.” Tony vowed, and this next breath was stronger, the one after stronger still. “Let’s go.” 

***********

**Chapter Notes:**

_ SO! It has been over three years since I wrote Storms and Frost, and re-reading them to get the feeling and flow of this third part just right was a TRIP. I feel like my writing has come so far, but at the same time other than cleaning up some parts and expanding on others in the OG fics, I still love them??  _

_It was weird to get into Post CACW angst again, especially in this verse where I really focused on Tony just up and leaving that world behind whereas my fics these days focus more on healing and moving forward together? So my initial instinct when writing this was to have him and Steve have this great forgiveness speech but then it was like, "nope, this Tony would be happy just leaving it in the past" so that's what I did. Storms and Frost were very personal to me because I highlighted alot of my own struggles with eating disorders and depression and past abuse and I am 100% one of those people that would rather get up and walk away from what hurts me and get back to a better life versus revisiting the trauma so someone ELSE can get closure about it. I've always been a "my mental health is more important than what you need" person and that's a lesson I had to learn the hard way, and I know that's why my original rough draft for this fic had the scene where Steve tried to apologize because HE needs closure and Tony just doesn't want to hear it. He's over it and it doesn't matter if the person who hurt him still needs closure. I will fully admit Idk if that's exactly the healthiest approach, but it's what I would do and since Storms/Frost were so much about my own struggles, why stop with this one right? Right._

_ I wrote Storms and Frost pre-Ragnarok and pre-IW, so in the coming chapters some events will be mixed up/changed/deleted entirely (like the version of Thanos's fight because I didn't know about the snap yet!) I thought about changing this fic to better follow the movies, but I decided to keep the original plan for it. Like I've been waiting three years to write it, and changing it too much felt... idk. whatever. I'm rambling lol this fic makes me sentimental about some of my first fics!  _

_I hope you're all looking forward to the rest!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: I’ve mentioned it before but please keep in mind, I rough drafted this fic/ designed this version of “Hela” pre-Ragnarok based only on her scenes in the trailer so she may seem OOC and her origin story is definitely not MCU canon. Also, obviously Storms and Frost disregard pretty much anything Thor-movies canon so don’t try to piece the timeline together lol (disregarding canon is my favorite hobby HOLLA)

Hel was dark.

Not dark like midnight when the stars still lent pin pricks of light to the sky. Not dark like the castle halls when Loki extinguished the lanterns so they could steal kisses in the shadows. Not dark like their rooms after the fires had gone out and Tony was wrapped sleeping between Thor’s bulk and Loki’s lean frame. 

It was dark like the way Tony’s entire _world_ had been dark after Siberia when he’d wandered the abandoned compound alone. It was dark like the hopelessness Loki had felt when he was kept by the _Others_ for so long. It was dark like the _nothing_ that Thor had been dragged in to and it was dark like the _fear_ that kept creeping in tendrils and shivers through their bodies as Tony and Loki walked the narrow paths of the realm towards something unknown.

“I hate it here.” Tony reached and held Loki’s hand tight when the demi god spoke in a near inaudible tone. “Anthony, I hate it here.” 

“Yeah, Lo.” Tony swallowed and worked to keep his own fear at bay so he could comfort his mate. “I hate it here too. The dark is pretty bad. Are you okay?” 

Loki didn’t answer, and Tony squeezed at his hand again. 

It had been a while now since Loki had woken up with nightmares of his time as a captive. He’d tried to hide the dreams from both Thor and Tony, he’d tried not to interrupt their newfound peace and love and _bond_ with reminders that he still quaked at too loud a noise or avoided parts of the Asgardian forest because the trees were too tall and the shadows too long.

Loki had tried to hide all of it-- his nightmares, the panic attacks, the way he clung tighter than he should-- but Thor had always known. Tony had always known. Loki hadn’t had a nightmare in a while now and it was because Tony had _known_ about his fears and then set out to silence the terror in a way only he could. 

_Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust._

“Are you okay?” he asked again, softer this time because even though he’d banished Loki’s nightmares in awful, burning fashion, Tony knew better than most just how easy it was to be triggered by seemingly innocuous moments. He remembered the long days alone at the Compound before Thor and how even after Thor, thinking about the team coming back had sent him spiraling. He knew the oppressive depressive power of darkness, he knew the way one could switch from calm to terrified with nothing more than a breath because something about _something_ felt wrong. 

“I’m right here.” he said after another minute. “Lo, I’m here with you.”

“Thank you, love.” Loki finally whispered. “Th--thank you.” 

Hel was dark, but worse than that Hel was _silent_. 

There was nothing for their eyes to adjust to, not a flicker nor glow nor hint of light to cause a shadow or even a shift in the dark and the lack of light was frustrating, made Loki’s every breath shallow and Tony’s ever step cautious. 

But it was somehow _worse_ when Tony finally gave up on the initial plan to sneak through the dark. He called fire to his palms to illuminate the path and then they could see everything that had been gathered watching their progress _silent_. 

A creature that was almost canine but then again wasn’t canine at all sat frighteningly close to where they passed, mouth open and black teeth sharp and breath _silent_. 

A feline that was a cat from a nightmare stood back arched and lips curled and hissed _silent_. 

A bird more vulture than parakeet, more harpy than swan, wings stretched out and talons leaving scrape marks on a rock, beak popped open _silent_. 

“...I almost preferred it when we couldn’t see.” Tony whispered and Loki only pressed at his palm anxiously. “Tell me more about Hela. She is the queen of Hel?” 

Loki didn’t answer and Tony tugged him away from a thing that shifted in the light and contorted to nearly mirror their own forms, its frame liquid and slippery and _silent_ though it should have sounded wet and sloppy and _ick_. 

“Lo. Tell me about Hela.” he said again. “Talk to me, c’mon.” 

“Hela is not-- she is not a queen, nor a monster.” Loki swallowed uneasily and leaned away from a snake that uncoiled closer and closer as they passed, tongue out and eyes dilated and tail rattling _silent_. “She is the goddess of Death.” 

“Goddess.” Tony breathed out harsh and terrified when a ghostly hand reached reached reached from the black and then fell away when it neared his light. “Like you are the god of Mischief and Thor is the god of Thunder?” 

“If Jotunn-kind are the scary tales they tell children, Hela is who we whisper horror stories about round the fire late at night.” Loki slid uncomfortably _cold_ as the light cast shadows on a pile of chains near the sheer edge of a cliff, a too pale body crumpled within the links. “The--the Frost Giants are cruel, but Hela oversaw the genocide of millions. The Dark Elves are cunning but she saw no need for tricks when she could be simply feared. She was Odin’s daughter long before Thor, long before I, and though I’ve never seen a picture, I hear her beauty is unmatched.” 

“Why aren’t there pictures of her in Asgard?” Tony sidestepped a creature that looked like a centipede-- if centipedes were the size of his arm. “We have murals and paintings of the other gods and goddesses, the other rulers of adjacent realms. Why not Hela, especially if she is family?” 

“I’m sure the absence of her likeness is _because_ she was family.” Loki spread a bridge of ice across a too-large-to-leap chasm and held Tony steady as they crossed. “Odin was never one to announce his failures, much less allow them to be remembered. When I found out about my Jotun heritage, the All-Father fell to his sleep so he didn’t have to deal with my questions and my anger. It does not surprise me in the least that he locked a child away in the depths to avoid a challenge to his power or a question of his authority.” 

“Surely Odin wouldn’t punish a child to protect his own pride?” Tony asked doubtfully. “Dad’s can be pricks but to do something like this?” 

“I can assure you, he would.” Loki swirled his cape up to shield Tony from protruding rock that jutted from _nowhere_ and nearly blocked their path. “Our father spoke of war, courted war, boasted for war and then punished Thor for reveling in it, hated me for taking the war past talk and into action. I thought I was doing what he wanted in finally destroying our enemies, I thought I was finally earning my place as an Odinson by rejecting my original parentage even to the point of extermination.” 

“When you went to Jotunheim.” Tony guessed, and squeezed encouragingly at Loki’s fingers. “Keep talking.” 

“I killed my true parent Laufey and unleashed the full power of the Bifrost bridge on Jotunnheim to finally do what neither Odin nor Thor were willing to do.” Loki stepped into a scattering of pale flowers and they wilted beneath his feet. “All I wanted was to be seen as equal to Thor in Odin’s eyes, all I wanted was for Odin to look at me the same way he looked at Thor.” 

Loki swallowed, waited for Tony to cast brighter light at the path ahead before he finished, “And when I came home again after the Other had torn me apart and used me against Earth, I realized that Odin _did_ look at me the way he looked at Thor-- he looked at us both as though he was angry his years of manipulation and pitting us against each other had failed.” 

“This is why Thor is so protective of you.” Tony decided. “Why he doesn’t allow anyone, even the advisors to speak ill of you. After Odin tried so hard to tear you apart, Thor refuses to separate from you at all.” 

“It is _you_ that doesn’t allow the advisors and councilmen even a breath of irritation towards me.” Loki corrected with a fond smile towards his mate. “I’m sure they are still quaking from the last time you nearly set the room on fire.” 

“As well they should.” Tony said firmly. “The fight we brought to Thanos pales in comparison to the rage I will unleash on anyone who talks badly about the men I love.” 

“You are gorgeous when you are vicious.” Hel was not the place to stop and linger over a kiss, but Loki did it anyway, drew Tony into his arms and bent to kiss his love soft and sweet and slow, his lips ice cold until Tony shivered and poured warmth through his entire body to turn the embrace _liquid_. They were both frightened, both tired, Tony working to hide the way his powers were flickering and Loki trying to hide the growing certainty that they were doomed and Hel wasn’t the place to kiss but they stopped and kissed anyway, both demigod and mortal all too aware that not even time was guaranteed anymore. 

“I love you.” Tony said as soon as they parted, because he’d gone too many years in his life never hearing the words. “Lo, I love you. I know this is difficult and I know you’re scared. I’m scared too, but we’ll get through it okay? We’ll find Thor, I promise.” 

“I love you too, Anthony.” Loki’s cool fingers brushed over Tony’s cheek to chase the lingering warmth, and the demi god frowned when he felt the tremble low in his love’s frame, the pulse that stuttered beneath his touch. “And after we’ve brought Thor home again, we will see why you are sick. I cannot have you weak, my love.” 

“I’m fine.” Tony made a visible effort to straighten his shoulders and tip his chin up. “Tell me more about Frigga and Odin.” 

“You know the rest of this story, darling.” Loki lingered a moment more at Tony, hovering anxiously until his mate had taken one and then two steps. _Something is wrong._ “After Frigga passed, Odin fell into sleep and never woke, and Thor took the throne.”

Something slick wound round their feet and Loki took a deep breath before carefully guiding his mate around the _ick_ and on down the path. “He never let me hide away after that. Pulled me from the corners and from lurking in the shadows. He refuted anyone who dared speak against me, set about trying to undo centuries of anger and misunderstandings between us but it wasn’t until _you_ that I was willing to see his truth. Not until _you_ Anthony, and the way you bound our hearts together. Odin’s influence was undone, Frigga’s blessings were allowed to flourish and together the three of us have healed the fractured legacy Odin left behind.” 

“...except Hela.” Tony whispered and Loki agreed soberly, “Except Hela.” 

“Do you recognize this place?” Tony lifted his hand to a column that seemed familiar, traced runes that were mirror images of the ones he knew graced the walls of the castle in Asgard, blessings turned curses when they were written backwards. “I recognize these halls.” 

“I always heard Hel was Asgard reflected.” Loki paused along a fountain that should have been bubbling with water but instead oozed black tar. “That everything about this place is a direct copy of the land above, only presented backwards. A cruel trick, to be so close to paradise and yet so far away.”

“Do you think it was always this way or did Odin change it after he banished Hela?” Tony asked, then shook his head. “No nevermind, that would be--” 

“--too cruel for even the All Father?” The voice came through the pitch black, quiet but shattering in the weighted silence. “You are _wrong_ , mortal. It is exactly as cruel as the All Father wished to be.” 

The voice molded into a woman on a throne, a seat that looked identical to the one above in Asgard. “ “It certainly cures the homesickness to be able to lounge on the same throne as dear old _Dad_ , you know. His is solid gold and mine is made of lava rock, but it’s all the same in the end, isn’t it?”

“You’re Hela?” Tony wanted to know, raising his voice to cut through the quiet, frightened but unwilling to show it. “Goddess of Death?” 

“Oh yes. I’m _Hela_.” 

Hela was beautiful, shockingly so, _unfairly_ so. Sharp cheekbones and a sharper smile, eyes that flickered green in the dark and lips too close to bloody, ancient in the way the healers were ancient and still young enough to nearly be Loki’s _twin_. 

It was astonishing how alike Hela and Loki were-- tall and thin, coal black hair and brilliant jade eyes, skin that gleamed porcelain even in the lack of light and a voice pitched low and alluring. She was sat on her throne svelte and _predatory_ , every movement noticeable as she crossed one endless leg over the over, baring skin that crawled with scales through the high cut in her gown. Even _that_ was like Loki, purposeful eye catching and almost overtly sensual whether the motion was intended to be arousing or not. 

“God, Lo.” Tony whispered. “You and she--” 

“-- I see it.” Loki’s breath hitched a little coming face to face with another one of Odin’s children, one that made _Thor_ seem the odd sibling out, one that could perhaps explain why Loki’s Asgardian glamour presented the way it did. “I--I see it.” 

Loki took a deep breath and stepped forward towards the throne, swirled his cape around his feet and announced, “Hela. I am Loki Odinson, son of Frigga, Prince of Asgard. I have come with my _hjartslattur_ Anthony of Midgard to seek your help in finding our King.”

“Ah.” If the goddess was impressed, she didn’t show it, only motioned to the floor in front of the throne and ordered, “Kneel.” 

“I beg your pardon?” Loki’s eyebrows shot towards his hairline. “Did you ask me to _kneel_?”

“Kneel.” Hela sounded like she wanted to laugh, but that didn’t distract from the underlying _danger_ in her tone. “Before your Queen.” 

“I kneel for no one.” Loki snapped, and Tony wrapped his fingers around his mate’s wrist to keep Loki calm.

“No?” It was eerie how much Hela’s expression mirrored Loki’s, right down to the lift of her brow and tilt to her lips. “I’d bet you kneel for this one.” She inclined her head towards Tony. “I bet if he snaps his fingers you are handing over your crown and dropping to your knees to do whatever he asks.”

“Enough!” Tony pushed Loki behind him and flashed fire from his hands, scorching up the sides of the nearby stones. “You will _not_ talk to my mate like that.” 

“Ah yes, you _definitely_ kneel for the mortal.” Hela decided, narrowed her eyes curiously at Tony’s show of power, then shifted her attention back to Loki to ask, “Odin’s child, hm? And who is your mother?” 

“Perhaps you haven’t heard here beneath, but the Queen Goddess Frigga has passed from our realm.” Loki’s expression twisted only briefly in grief. “I called her mother.” 

“I didn’t ask you _called_ mother.” Hela didn’t so much as shift in position, but her tone was suddenly dangerous, her posture a hairsbreadth from threatening. “I asked _who_ is your mother. You will never convince me that Freya-called-Frigga is your mother. She was not mother to me, and she is clearly not mother to you. _Who_ is your mother?” 

Loki clenched his jaw and didn’t answer, and Hela shrugged at him. “If you won’t answer then I find myself bored with you. _Splinter_ , Odinson.” 

There was a flash of black somehow blacker than the rest, a sword created from nothing and flung from the throne right towards Loki, and Hela smirked when the mortal sparked fire ready to defend his mate--

\--and her jaw dropped when Loki _Odinson_ snapped frost from his fingers and shattered the stone, suddenly blue skin glowing eerie and red eyes gleaming. 

“It would be unwise for you to attempt such a thing again.” Loki warned, teeth sharpened to fangs and bared angrily. “This far from Asgard your powers are limited and mine are not. I may not be able to kill you, but I can undoubtedly make you suffer. Be _wary_ , Queen of the Underworld.” 

“You are not an Odinson.” Hela’s lip curled in a sneer. “A frost giant and a small one at that. Tell me, did Odin steal you away from your home, too?” 

“...too?” Loki hesitated with ice building at his fingertips, and Tony touched comfortingly at the small of his back. “Explain yourself.” 

“I explain myself to no one, so instead I will correct a misconception on your part.” Hela stood from the throne, tall and lovely and _ominous_. “I am not the Queen of the Underworld, and I am not one of the monsters you warn children of. I am the Goddess of Death and if I tell you to _kneel_ \--”

A snap of _black_ , and Tony and Loki stumbled back several steps when stone daggers embedded themselves in the ground mere inches from their feet.

“--I expect you to _kneel_.” 

It went against everything in Tony’s core to kneel at all, and even though Hela hadn’t been incorrect of how willingly Loki went to his knees for his mate, being _forced_ to his knees was enough to make the demi-god run _frosty_ again. 

“My love.” Tony murmured, dropping down to one knee and tugging at Loki’s cape until he followed suit. “What is one bended knee when Thor’s life hangs in the balance?” 

Loki grit his teeth until his jaw ached, but finally knelt and Hela’s laugh echoed through the air like the rattle of skeletons against desolate sand. 

“I never understood why Odin didn’t exterminate you Jotun.” she chuckled, slumped gracefully back into her throne. “So many times I asked him to unleash my armies across the Bifrost and every time he said _no_. And then he goes and steals a Jotun child. Tell me, did Odin shape your glamour to resemble my visage as a way to grieve for the daughter he locked away? Or did you look deep into the bastard’s psyche and see which form would vex him the most? You Frost Giants are endlessly mischievous but few of you are truly cruel. Which are you?” 

“I chose this form because I am lovely in green.” Loki’s skin paled again, his eyes lightening to Tony’s favorite shade of jade.. “Not because Odin influenced me, not because I knew who you were.” 

“No of course you don’t know who I am.” Hela was silent for a moment, earlier laughter disappearing until she almost brooding and the tension in the dark cavern thickened to strangling as Loki and Tony waited and _waited_ for the goddess to speak again. Patience was not a strong suit for either of them, but to rush a goddess meant certain death and they had to stay strong for Thor.

 _For Thor._

“Odin used to tell me that there is nothing new in the cosmos.” she finally said. “That there is no new evil or miraculous growth of good, that we are all simply sharing what already exists and when one passes from this realm to the next, their energy is transferred to other creatures.” 

“I remember his words, yes.” Loki answered cautiously, and Tony murmured an agreement. “What of them?” 

“ I was his Executioner, did you know?” Hela continued like she hadn’t heard him, staring aimlessly off into the dark. “The one whose sword was always bloody, the one whose heart was always hardened against pleas for mercy. He was touted as a conquering King, I was shunned as a murderer. When the dark energies of the cosmos came round to me and I grew too powerful, he cast me away here, locked me down so not only could I never use my powers, but I could not die and let someone else rise up to overthrow him.” 

“He erased me from the histories of Asgard.” A shape blacker than the rest roiled forward like a wave, a physical manifestation of the goddess’s anger… and maybe even her grief. “Buried my armies and burned my records and in the end he even turned my love against me, sent the Valkyrie on the Pegasus to try and cut me down.”

The dark around the throne shifted, thinned, and in its absence showed the gray gleam of bones, of skulls and skeletons from winged horses, the dull shine of a thousand Valkyrie weapons. 

“The Valkyrie.” Tony’s stomach twisted, his chest contorted as he fought the urge to vomit. He’d heard the stories of the Valkyrie in Asgard, seen the paintings of the beautiful, terrifying women who were responsible both for waging war and for escorting the souls through to Valhalla. Thor had spoken about the Valkyris as if they were already myth, more legend than history. There wasn’t a person alive in Asgard who remembered ever seeing a Valkyrie, and the healers never spoke of a time before Thor’s birth some fifteen hundred years previous, so Tony had decided the warriors were like the armies of King Arthur-- surely true in some respects, but utterly exaggerated in others. 

But as he stared at a graveyard of empty eye sockets and blade tarnished by the millenia, he knew the truth of it all was much, much worse. 

_Slaughtered_. The Valkyrie had been _slaughtered_ as the price of a battle between a father and daughter, between god and goddess, between a man determined to rule the world and the woman he cast aside after he had all he needed. 

“...I haven’t seen light in thousands of years.” Hela was still speaking, nearly whispering now. “I’ve forgotten what the sun feels like, what small comfort even a lantern can bring. And now you Odinson and Laufey’s child, you come all this way with a mortal to ask my help while looking like me, while stinking of Asgard and reveling in the riches I helped Odin amass? No. No I will not help you.” 

“Hela--” 

“ _Goddess_.” 

“Goddess.” Tony pursed his lips and tried again. “ _Goddess_ , my mate has been burdened by Odin’s choices as well. Cast aside the same as you, led to believe they were a monster simply for following Odin’s wishes. We slayed Thanos and the balance of evil in the cosmos shifted, led to something coming and taking our King, Thor Odinson. We want to rescue him and nothing more. _Please_ help us.” 

“Your powers have made you brave.” Hela turned her focus from Loki to watch the fire flickering at Tony’s palms. “Some would say they have made you stupid, but regardless, you are too mortal for this journey. It is a wasted effort.”

“With my mate by my side I’ll be fine.” Tony’s arms and shoulders lit with flames that burned red and gold in his eyes before he called it back to resting. “I am hardly _mortal_ these days.”

“Fire does not come from Frost.” she smiled slowly, almost terribly. “Which means your bond with the Asgardian is amplified by another. The one you seek is also your mate?” 

“He is.” 

“I remember what that was like.” Hela swept clawed fingers through the hair hanging loose at her shoulders. “I also remember giving my lovers too much and watching them burn from the inside out when their souls could not contain my might. Anthony of Midgard, you are burning, aren’t you?” 

“I’m fine.” Tony said firmly, and then softer when Loki turned to him in concern, “I’m _fine_ , Lo.” 

“He’s lying.” Hela interrupted carelessly. “He is not fine, Laufey’s child. It would be wise for you to take your mate and return to the halls of Asgard before you perish here in my realm or somewhere in the next. Go home.” 

“We are not leaving until you help us.” 

“It will be a cold day--” The goddess looked around the dark and empty. “-- _here_ before I help an Odinson. Be gone before I decide to keep your mortal for myself, or before his powers tear him apart.” 

“I’ve had worse than a few burns.” Tony touched his chest lightly, and Hela watched curiously as Loki turned to flatten his palm over Tony’s heart as well. “I can handle more if it means finding Thor again.” 

“The longer you are separated from your other mate and away from Asgard, the weaker you will grow.” She said firmly. “Go home.” 

“ _Not without Thor._ ” 

“Then you are cursing yourself to a painful death, and cursing your mate to stand by helpless and watch.” The human’s chin only lifted stubbornly and Hela steepled her fingers and narrowed her eyes, a ribbon of begrudging respect softening her next words to Loki, “When you learned who you truly were, when the truth of your heritage came to light, did Odin hate you?” 

“Did he hate _you_?” Loki returned without taking his hand from over Tony’s heart and the goddess motioned to the nothing around them, to the dark, to the creatures that lurked silent in the blacker corners. “Who are you really, if you are not truly Odinsdottir?”

“I told you.” Hela lifted one shoulder in a careless, half shrug. “I’m the Goddess of Death.” 

“Goddess of Death.” Tony pulled away from Loki and approached the throne, took a deep breath and pushed past every one of his instincts that told him to _burn_ the answers about Thor out of the woman. The left over rage from Thanos, the still simmering sadness from their loss and the growing panic over losing Thor roiled in his chest, spilled over into his eyes and it took everything Tony had to not shout, to not _spark_ , to not lash out with his usual snark and obnoxious quip and further irritate the goddess. 

“Hela.” he said slowly, approached the throne carefully before going down on one knee again, a palm outstretched and raised. “If I give you light--” fire at his fingers and then his palm, shifting and shaping into a twisting, dancing rope above his skin. “--then will you give us an answer?” 

“How would a _mortal_ \--” 

“Thor told me a flame born of Asgard is eternal.” Tony brought his other hand forward and curled the fire between his palms, then pushed it towards the pedestal closest to the throne and let it rest. “I will leave this here with you if you’ll just tell us where Thor was taken. We only need a place, a destination. Please.”

Hela’s eyes flared _otherworldly_ reflected in the fire, previously silent horrors skittered and shifted away from the light, something hissed and spat and ran away and the goddess reached thin fingers to pass through the flame, let it linger on her skin and travel up the length of her arm before it returned to the ball Tony had created. 

“You will follow the screams in the cosmos to the edge of nothing.” She finally said, and Tony went very still, held his breath and waited nervously for the rest of it. Behind him Loki ran cold and anxious again, ice crackling at Tony’s feet where Loki hadn’t managed to keep the frost from building. 

“Once you have found the edge of nothing, you’ll take a step further until you find something else entirely.” Hela couldn’t take her eyes off the light. “Leap your biggest leap and find yourself at his mercy.” 

“At whose mercy?” 

“The mercy of the Grandmaster.” Hela snapped her fingers and the dark air shuddered and split in front of them, a cavernous portal opening and glowing red. “He is the one who took your mate, who received the energy left after the Titan and used it to reach across the cosmos to snatch at your Thor. He is selfish and flighty and not even a goddess such as myself stands a chance against him. He is beyond powerful, immune to the tricks of a god of Mischief and certainly not impressed by the sparks from your fingers, Anthony of Midgard. You are not prepared for him.” 

“Thank you for your help, Goddess.” Loki helped Tony back to his feet and clasped their hands together tight. “If there is anything we could do to return the favor--” 

“Is Odin dead?” 

“...yes.” 

“Consider the favor returned.” Hela waved them away and kept watching the twisting, burning light. “You cannot unchain me from this realm, and were I ever given the chance to walk beneath the sun again, I would unleash a millenias worth of rage on the surface. The light is enough. Be gone.” 

“Come my love.” Loki urged Tony closer to the portal, kept an uneasy eye on the temperamental goddess and both hands on Tony’s waist. “We must meet with this Grandmaster and see why he took Thor. Come along.” 

“Hela.” Tony turned back at the last moment. “If you have led us into a trap, not even this realm will protect you from my wrath. Myself and my mates are done paying for Odin’s mistakes, do not send me on a fool’s errand or I will return and--” 

“And burn my blood into the stones and turn the stones to ash?” Hela interrupted, mocking and cruel and _pointed_ as Loki turned in surprise to his mate. “Will you do to me what you did to those disgusting creatures in the dungeons?” 

“The dungeons, darling?” Loki asked, and Tony’s eyes lit gold and furious red as he glared at the goddess. “Which dungeons?” 

“You haven’t told him?” Hela raised her eyebrows in faux surprise. “Imagine that. Laufey’s child, do you have any idea the depths of this mortal’s love for you? I’ve heard of Anthony Stark even here in this realm, of the lengths he will take to protect what he considers his-- his friends, his team on Midgard, his _hjartslattur_.”

“You know me?” Tony asked irritably, hands sparking hot. “Why the pretense?” 

Hela only smiled, slow and terrifying, her hair falling over his eyes and shading her face. “Give the Grandmaster my best, won’t you?” 

“What dungeons?” Loki asked again and Tony shook his head, stepped through the portal and dragged his mate along with him into the _nothing_. 

The portal glittered and sparked and fell back to empty, and Hela returned to slumping in her throne and staring at the light as it flickered and twisted over the pedestal. It was beautiful and almost alien, it had been so long since she’d seen anything but dark and it was hypnotizing. 

_Hypnotizing_ and the mortal had been so foolish to leave it here. A flame born in Asgard was eternal and like most Asgardians Hela’s powers amplified next to the light. A millenia in the dark had left her almost useless but already each breath felt stronger, already her powers flexed enough to knit the torn pieces of her clothing back together, to highlight jade seams in black leather and give luster to her limp hair. 

...the light brought shadows where there’d been no shadows before, brought clarity to what had been empty and formless and void and as Hela sat watching the fire, over her throne something _else_ took shape, became liquid and real and viscous as it flowed over her shoulders and hovered in the air around the fire. 

“Aether.” 

The thing was almost sentient, almost alive and Hela let her fingers run through its mass as it moved around her. The Aether needed a living host to bond with to be anything other than static and Hela had only enough life left in her soul to coax the dark force to motion and nothing else. The presence of a human, of a demigod had stirred the Aether but now the portal was closed and it only possessed the energy to float idly by the light left by Anthony of Asgard. 

“The Grandmaster will eat them alive.” she said into the empty and the Aesir shook itself in apparent agreement. “A shame that, the mortal is stunning even if he is stupid. The powers Laufey’s child and Thor Odinson have granted him will destroy him. Not even their _hjartslattur_ bond will be enough to save him, much less enough to save their mate from the Grandmaster.” 

“...they have no idea what they are walking into.” 


	3. Chapter 3

_Sakaar_

_A wise King never seeks out war..._

The All Father had first applauded when Thor was all too eager to ride off with his three and find a battle to join, Frigga had disapproved but Odin laughed when feasts turned into brawls because Thor and his friends were quick to drink and quicker to throw punches. Odin had encouraged Thor’s fighting, had encouraged his brashness and ego and the way Thor was always chasing glory but then after he and Loki had gone to Jotunnheim, Odin had been so angry, so _disappointed_. 

The disappointment had hurt worse than the anger, the way Odin had turned away from Thor had stung the god of Thunder to his very core. Being banished and unworthy of lifting Mjolnir had broken Thor to nearly nothing and he hadn’t understood what he’d done wrong. Odin had been a mighty conqueror and Thor wished to be the same. Odin was quick to dole out his punishments, and Thor only emulated the behavior. 

It had been something about Jotunnheim _specifically_ , something about Loki _specifically_ that had made Odin so angry that day and his voice had rolled like Thor’s thunder as he argued with his sons. 

_A wise King never seeks out war…_

...Thor used to revel in courting war, he did. He craved the accolades and breathed in the violence, he shivered hearing a war cry and the sounds of the trumpets, loved the feel of Mjolnir in his hand as she crushed those in his path. 

… Thor used to revel in courting war, but what Sakaar was asking of him, what Sakaar and the Grandmaster were _requiring_ of him wasn’t war. It wasn’t battle. It wasn’t even a fair fight. This planet and it’s eccentric master wanted only cold blooded murder from the slaves called gladiators and Thor had never thought the scent of blood would make him sick, but it made him sick now. 

“Easy, then.” A familiar, almost comforting hand at his back as Thor rolled to his side and lost what little food he’d eaten all over the floor. “Don’t worry, you get used to it.” 

“That’s what you said yesterday.” Thor gasped and heaved again. “And the day before that. And the day before--” he struggled back to sitting and wiped at his mouth. “How many days have I been here again?” 

“Don’t know.” The friendly creature found a spot on the other side of the narrow hall and shrugged. “It’s like I told you, time is funny here. Space is funny here. The Grandmaster just wishes things are, and then they _are_ and we fighters don’t have much to say about--” 

Thor moved down the hall from the mess, wiped at his mouth again as he tuned out the rambling and thunked his head back against the wall of the oddly circular space. 

The Grandmaster really did simply _wish_ things into existence around here. All of Sakaar moved in time to the Eternal’s heart beat, the landscape of the planet realigned and shifted based on what he wanted to see that day. If the Grandmaster woke up wanting a public execution, the slaves were pulled randomly to satisfy that particular urge. Newcomers to the planet were either a fighter or food and a choice of one didn’t negate the risk that you would become the other if the Grandmaster deemed it so. 

There was a metal disk at Thor’s neck, the sharp prongs biting into his skin and directly into his veins. It _hurt_ and the demi god was bruised from multiple attempts at pulling it free or breaking it between his fingers. It was a method of control, of punishment and all the other slaves had them as well. Speak too loudly, get shocked. Move too quickly, get shocked. Make the mistake of stepping between a guard and a prisoner, between a too harsh punishment and an undeserving victim…

...well Thor’s entire _body_ still hurt from that day. His nerves still felt raw from a shock that had nearly killed him, his head still throbbed from where he’d dropped to the ground and knocked himself unconscious. They had fit him with a stronger disk after that, strapped Thor down so he couldn’t struggle and with the Grandmaster watching with a half bored, half amused expression while a guard fused a _bigger_ piece to his neck, ran the controller up to red just to prove it could break Thor without trying. 

Then they’d used it on him during a fight simple because they could. Thor’s victory had only been a moment away, his opponent had raised a blade that would be easily blocked and then the electric prods had knocked Thor to his knees and the blow had cut across his face and taken his eye with it. 

It was a lesson, a punishment, proof of the Grandmasters cruel disposition writ across Thor’s face with a still raised scar and an empty eye socket.

“God of Thunder.” the Grandmaster had chuckled with that odd, self indulgent laugh. “Lord of _Sparkles_ , maybe. Put him back with the other fighters but be sure not to kill him yet. He’s interesting.” 

_Interesting_. Prince of Asgard, god of Thunder, mate and love to the most extraordinary mortal and the most beautiful Jotun Prince and yet here on Sakaar Thor was simply _interesting_ and only _interesting_ because he was difficult to kill. 

So many days he had been here-- how many days? -- and so many days he had been dragged into the arena to fight for his very life against others in the exact same situations. The only explanation he’d been given for his kidnapping was that he appeared to be a contender and a contender for _what_ Thor still didn’t know.

Was there some horror the Grandmaster kept chained away, something worse than the beasts Thor had fought only minutes ago? Could there possibly be a monster more vicious than the _thing_ that had torn his previous cell mate in half and then screamed in victory?

Would this nightmare only be over when Thor died? When the god of Thunder fell beneath the rage of a prisoner desperate for freedom like _he_ was desperate for freedom? That was the rule of this place-- those who bested the champion won their freedom, those who lost, lost their life. Every day mangled bodies were carried from the arena and tossed into the incinerator, or tossed to the dogs or tossed into the trash heaps because once dead, they were worth nothing. 

And once Thor inevitably lost-- because no one ever won-- he would be worth nothing. 

_Nothing_. 

_Because no one ever won._

The disk at his neck buzzed once, twice, a warning to all slaves to be in their cells before lights out so Thor forced himself to his feet and down the endless hall to the windowless room he’d earned the night he killed his first competition. It was a bittersweet prize-- this was the same bed the now perished prisoner had slept in, but anything was better than trying to sleep on the floor in the common area. The room locked down at lights off and Thor couldn’t get out, but more importantly, no one else could get _in_. 

The lights clicked off a moment later and Thor stretched out on the hard mattress, threw his arm over his eyes and breathed out a slow sigh of relief when he could stop worrying about survival and could think of his loves instead. 

He couldn’t think of Anthony and Loki during the day. He couldn’t risk even a _moment_ of distraction or quiet thought or wishful day dream. Even the friendlier prisoners in this place would kill him in a second if it meant gaining some favor in the Grandmasters eyes, so it wasn’t until the lights clicked off and the doors clanged shut that it was safe for Thor to let his mind wander. 

Tonight he thought about the day Thanos had been defeated, about how _mighty_ he’d felt holding the Titan’s weapon and watching the cursed head roll. He thought about how beautiful and _wild_ Loki had looked in full Jotun form with his eyes glowing red and fangs glinting in the fading sunlight as he smiled. And Anthony-- Anthony their _hjartslattur_ had been so fierce, so unrelenting in battle alongside the Captain and the rest of the team. 

Anthony had been so _strong_ until that night when they had all crowded into one shower and washed the blood from each others bodies. 

Then Anthony had cried silent tears, hid his face in Loki’s shoulder and sobbed beneath the sound of the water and Thor had wrapped both his arms around both his loves and held them tight as Anthony’s heart broke for what had been his home, what had been his _family_ , and Loki’s heart broke because he couldn’t do anything to fix it. 

Thor had felt powerful that night. He’d slain a Titan, he could hold his loves while they grieved, he had been _enough_ to bring the tattered pieces of their emotions together and weave a sort of peace as they fell into bed and held each other tight. 

That night Thor had felt powerful but tonight he only felt _small_. Without Mjolnir at his side, thunder and lightning seemed impossible to conjure. He had to rely on brute strength and on a planet full of species Thor had never even heard of, his strength was waning. He was a Prince on Asgard, a Deity on Earth but here on Sakaar Thor was simply one of many. 

He didn’t feel powerful, all he felt was miserable and alone and… scared. 

Thor was _scared_. 

“Heimdall.” he whispered, but he knew Heimdall wouldn’t answer, he knew Heimdall couldn’t _see_. “Heimdall if you can hear me or see me, let me see Loki and Anthony. Tell my loves I will find a way home to them again.” 

***************

A hundred floors above the dungeons and cells, the portal from Hela opened up to allow Tony and Loki entrance to the Grandmaster’s castle, depositing them in a winding hall in the split second between servants passing one direction and the Grandmaster himself passing in the other. 

The hall was empty only long enough for Tony and Loki to stumble through the portal and find their footing, then Loki grabbed Tony’s arm and yanked him back behind heavy curtains before someone saw them. 

“Are you alright?” Loki swept his fingers into Tony’s hair, down his cheek and to his throat to check his pulse. “I’m having a hard time catching my breath moving through the void so quickly, how are you?” 

“M’fine.” Tony was pale, gasping as he leaned into Loki’s frame. “Just need a minute, Lo. Give me a--” 

The words trailed off and Loki tipped Tony’s chin up in alarm. “Anthony?” 

“Sorry I--” Tony shook his head and tried to straighten up. “Sorry, I forgot what I was saying. What was I saying?” 

“You were trying to convince me that you were alright.” Loki whispered, eyes dark with worry as he searched his mate’s expression. “Anthony, what’s happening to you?” 

“I don’t know.” Tony slumped forward again and Loki caught him. “Lo, my head hurts.” 

“Just breathe, darling.” Loki swallowed back a jolt of fear and held Tony closer, rubbing at his back comfortingly. “Deep breaths, now. Take your time.” 

Tony hooked his fingers into Loki’s tunic and held on tight, dragged in one shaky breath after another as he tried to bring his mind back online. Coming through the portal had blanked him out entirely, the yank through the void sending anything resembling _thought_ scattered, wrecking his equilibrium and stripping the warmth from his very bones. He was freezing, his head hurt and the glaring neon decoration of the castle didn’t help. 

The color scheme was simply hideous, lime greens and bright red, electric blues and tacky gold. Everything was wound into a sharply geometric designs that were incomprehensible from close up but even lost in a migraine, the science-tuned part of Tony’s brain recognized the beginnings of structural compound designs. The halls were decorated with _structural compound designs_ and a nearly hysterical thought came to Tony’s mind-- this is what the gods see when they look at Earth. Structural compound designs. Building blocks. Maps and pathways. Instructions. 

“Darling?” Loki’s mouth brushed Tony’s ear when he spoke and Tony pulled himself from staring at the marks on the wall. “Anthony, are you better? How are you feeling?” 

“... I don’t know.”

“You’re cold, my love.” 

“I-- I’m freezing.” Tony was _freezing_ and he shut his eyes against all the patterns and diagrams swimming through his vision so he could focus on calling his fire up through his skin. “Lo, I’m freezing. And I can’t think about more than one thing at a time, it’s like my head is stuck.” 

“Try not to think for a minute then.” Loki forced his voice steady and lifted his cape up and around Tony’s shoulders. “I’ve got you.” 

“G-glamour?” 

“No one sees us, my love.” Loki shifted invisible, and with Tony tucked into his arms and cape, the mortal flickered invisible as well. “We’re safe. Just breathe.” 

Tony breathed, in and out, slow and uncertain, in and out, stuttered and more scared than he would ever admit. Even in Afghanistan, even with Obadiah, even after that damn wormhole above New York, his mind had never slipped. Never hitched. Tony’s mind was his greatest asset, his greatest _weapon_ and no amount of fire power or powerful mates would save him if he couldn’t _think_. 

_Why couldn’t he think?_

“Settle, darling.” Cool lips at his forehead and Tony realized he’d been making quiet, distressed noises. “No one can see us but if they wandered too close they could hear us so you must--”

Loki went silent, pressed Tony tighter to his body to muffle any noise when footsteps sounded uncomfortably close to their hiding spot. Tony struggled briefly, tried to call up his fire again but a quick touch of frost at his back stilled his motion. 

Tony was still trembling and Loki didn’t want to risk an ill guided attempt at powers, so he waited with bated breath and narrowed eyes as a pair of boots stopped just outside the curtain. He had weapons of course, knives ready to be conjured and daggers waiting to be thrown. He had his magic and his frost and though Thor had always been considered the fighter of the two, Loki would not hesitate to destroy someone who posed a threat to them so the Trickster god paused one breath, then two, kept a protective hand at Tony’s back and materialized a knife out of the air with the other….

….” _Oy_!” 

Loki blinked, and Tony tensed against him when they heard the harsh whisper. 

“ _Oy_!” it came again, hissed and impatient. “Look, the Grandmaster would kill you in an instant if he caught you here, but he’s too busy to notice an intruder, even one that reeks of Asgard like you do.” 

Tony tried to lift his head and Loki held him down firmly. He adored Tony’s snark and quick wit but now was _not_ the time for Tony to be stereotypically sassy and dismissive of whoever was talking. Until they were sure of the strangers intentions, they would remain quiet and hidden as long as possible. 

“Listen.” the boots shuffled closer and the curtains twitched as if the stranger was tempted to move them aside. “If you want a chance to see that other Asgardian alive, you’re going to do exactly as I say. Deviate from the directions and you’ll end up dead so _listen_.” 

Tony forced himself to concentrate, centered himself around Loki’s scent and the strength in Loki’s arm and dragged his mind to _coherent_ so he wouldn’t miss a single quickly relayed direction. If it took sneaking through this castle and listening to orders from a questionable source to see Thor again… then so be it. 

_Down the hall_. It was difficult to stay glamoured and silent while moving, more difficult to do it while trying to keep Tony upright as well. Loki unhooked his cape and lay it over Tony’s shoulders so his magic would transfer to the mortal, then with hands clasped tight he navigated down the quickly crowding hall. There were guards stomping by with weapons at the ready, slaves with electric disks in their necks, beautiful feminine presenting types in golden robes and ornate headdresses, nearly humanoid organisms, nearly monstrous terrors and Loki kept his concentration on helping Tony down the way instead of flinching back from a creature that looked like the ones that had tortured him. 

And Tony squeezed at his hand just lightly, just enough so Loki knew Tony knew too, Tony had seen the creature too. 

Oh, Loki loved him _endlessly_. 

_Through the third door._ The door opened with the sort of reluctance that meant it had been forced before, the hinge bent or deadbolt snapped but when Loki tried to hesitate and re-evaluate the decision, Tony pushed at his back and shoved him through anyway. “It’s open.” he muttered wearily. “When you find an open door you’re supposed to take it.” 

Loki wanted to protest, but he changed his mind when he saw a small small smile at Tony’s mouth. “Are you very much a fan of unexpected doors?” 

“One time I found a secret door in a wall.” Tony’s smile grew a little more. “Plus it’s my favorite part of any spy movie.” 

_Down the stairs_. Hidden stairs were another favorite part of Tony’s old spy movies but he didn’t bother mentioning it as they wound down and down and _down_ until the steps turned narrow and the walls ran damp. 

“Hold tight, darling.” Loki stayed in front of Tony, one hand out to balance himself and the other out to steady his mate. Tony wasn’t tripping over his feet anymore and his words weren’t quite as slurred but Loki wasn’t willing to take any chances. “How are you feeling?” 

“I’m fine.” Tony brushed off the question. “Lo, I’m always fine. Let’s just keep going so we can find Thor.” 

_Through the corridor._ The corridor at the bottom of the stairs was eerily empty, nothing more than brick walls with crumbling mortar, echoing noises from above and what sounded like muted screams from below, and their footsteps clicked along the uneven floor as they walked side by side down the way. 

“Who do you think they are?” Tony asked after a long minute. “The person helping us?” 

“I’m not entirely sure they _are_ helping us. So far it’s only been a maze leading us deeper into the bowels of this place.” Loki passed his palm over a damp spot on the wall and froze it solid. “This could be a trap, darling. And what will we do then?” 

“Kill anyone who gets in our way.” Tony’s eyes flickered red and then gold as his returning strength allowed his powers to flex. “I’ll burn this castle to the ground before I let someone stand between us and Thor.” 

“Burn it to the ground.” Loki repeated. “The way you did at the dungeons? Where did you go, Anthony? What was Hela talking about?” 

“She wasn’t talking about anything.” Tony’s tone hardened, his fingers burning hot in Loki’s palm. “Let’s just keep going.” 

“Anthony--” 

_“Let it go._ ” 

Loki opened his mouth to argue again but a different voice cut in-- “If what your mate did is so bad that even _Hela_ knows about it, you really are better off leaving the questions alone.” 

A figure stepped from the shadows and pushed a hood from her face, narrowed dark eyes at Loki and Tony and demanded, “You’re Jotun. And you’re from Midgard. So why do you stink of _Asgard_? I thought you came to rescue the other one but you’re not even the same species.” 

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t continue saying I stink.” Loki’s lip curled and the woman sneered, “Then don’t come here and _stink_. I could smell you over the gladiators and the slaves and the Grandmasters cologne, don’t know why you thought hiding behind a curtain would save you. You’re just lucky I was the one to notice you first.” 

“And who are you, exactly?” Tony pressed at Loki’s palm in warning when he felt his mate stiffen and heard the tell tale _schwing_ of a blade as it appeared in Loki’s other hand. “Why are you helping us?” 

“I find it hard to believe you tangled with Hela and she let you go, last time I heard about that hag she was still eating pretty humans like you for lunch.” the woman ignored the question about her identity and twirled a knife through her fingers before pointing it at Loki. “Put it away, Frost Giant. You might pretend to be Asgardian, but I know you frosty types. Quick to pretend to help, always looking to stab someone in the back with an icicle or two. It’s bad enough you look like _her_ you know, I should kill you for that alone.” 

“You will refer to me as _Prince_.” Loki bared his teeth and growled at her. “And you are welcome to try and kill me. I am missing one of my mates, my other love is fading before my very eyes and _you_ have the misfortune of being the first creature to bother me. Come and see if you know the true consequences of tangling with a Frost Giant.” 

“Consequences.” she retorted, reached into a scabbard at her back and retrieved a second knife. “Myself and my sisters slaughtered thousands of you once, I’m sure I can handle a runt like you.” 

“Runt?” Loki’s eyes blazed red and his veins seized _ice_ , frost leaping from his palms to form jagged swords. “How dare you?!” 

“Come at me, Prince.” she mocked and Loki _snarled_ and they leapt at each other--

\--and Tony stepped right in between them, brought Loki to a stop with just his presence and the woman to a stop with a hand raised glowing in front of her face. “Enough.” 

“I’m not afraid of your parlor tricks, mortal.” 

“Stop.” the fire leapt up Tony’s arms and burned golden in his eyes, the concrete beneath their feet heated hot enough to warp as the flames ran through his body and into the stone. “I said _enough_.” 

“...you’re not mortal at all.” the weapon dropped from her fingers unnoticed as she stared wide eyed at the bubbling stone. “Are you?” 

“Hardly.” Tony was shaking with the effort of controlling his power, sweat beading down his temple and his jaw clenched hard enough to ache. “My name is Tony Stark, Anthony of Asgard, mate to both Thor Odinson King of Asgard and god of Thunder, and Loki Odinson, Laufey’s child, Trickster god and Silver Tongue. Two days ago someone took Thor and we have come to find him. Lead me to my mate or to the person responsible for taking him… _now_.” 

“King of Asgard.” she took a step back from Tony’s wrath. “Odin is no more?” 

“The All Father fell to his sleep and never woke.” Loki spread his fingers over the small of Tony’s back to steady him, flinching slightly at the searing heat. “And the Queen Mother Frigga was slain by the Dark Elves.” 

The demi god iced his hands in an effort to cool his mate, and Tony trembled beneath his palm but didn’t let up. “I am Laufey’s child but adopted to the Asgardian throne. Thor, son of Odin rules as King.” 

“ _Adopted_.” 

The silence ran thick between them, Tony unwilling to let his flame cease until the stranger capitulated, Loki torn between worrying about his mate and being cautious of the woman who simply stood and stared at them. 

And then slowly, hesitantly, she put her swords away and tugged her sleeve up to show them a tattoo inked close to her elbow. 

“...you’re a Valkyrie.” Loki breathed, and Tony’s eyes went very wide as the fire cooled from his hands.

“I thought all the Valkyrie…” _were murdered_. “...passed centuries ago.” he said slowly and she snorted, “We didn’t pass, we were slaughtered. Unleashed on Hela by Odin’s command and she destroyed us all.” 

“Clearly not all of you.” Loki was too busy being relieved that Tony wasn’t burning anymore to catch the flicker of rage on the Valkyrie’s face. “ _You_ survived.” 

“I escaped by hiding beneath the dead body of the woman I loved.” She snarled, and Tony lit back up in defense of his mate, palms glowing and eyes flickering as he tried to keep his powers at the forefront. “And then I fell into a portal and landed in this hell hole. Fell into a bottle and never found my way back out. Does that sound like _surviving_?!” 

Silence again, and finally Loki whispered with all his years alone, all his years hurt and all his years _lost_ weighing the words down, “.... I’m sorry.” 

And the Valkyrie recoiled as if she’d never heard the words before in her life, jerked away from the understanding in Loki’s eyes and everything the understanding meant, swallowed against knowing that the Jotun-turned-Asgardian could not only see her pain but possibly even _match_ it. 

“Why do you look like Hela?” she finally asked, ragged and hoarse. “Why would you choose to look like that monster?” 

“I didn’t know I looked like Hela until we met her just a day ago.” Loki sounded equally hoarse and Tony let the fire extinguish completely as he turned to his mate and murmured something soft and comforting. It had been difficult enough for Loki in Asgard already, but knowing he was near twin for a _murderess_ …. “And I am sorry for your losses. She is a monster for what the All Father turned her towards, you lost your love and your sisters for the same reasons and I am _sorry_.”

“Yours is not the apology I want.” The Valkyrie’s shoulders slumped tired. “I-- I was the one who found your mate. Sakaar is the dumping ground for the universe’s collective waste, so I don’t know how he ended up here, but I was the one that found him in the trash heaps. Tall, right? Blond, cranky, talks about his hammer alot?” 

“That’s Thor.” Loki murmured hopefully. “What did you do with him after you found him? Where are the new prisoners kept?” 

“On this planet you are either a slave or a slave trader, a fighter or food.” Valkyrie answered listlessly, hugged her arms to her midsection as the newly drudged memories of loss made her shiver. “I turned your mate in to the Grandmaster because Asgardians are ridiculously difficult to kill, I thought he’d make an interesting fighter.” 

“You didn’t recognize him as royalty?” Loki gestured to his own clothes, the crests and insignias that marked him as _Prince_. “You served the throne but didn’t recognize the signs of the Asgardian heir?” 

“I served the throne when _Hela_ was heir.” She countered. “And even if I’d recognized the clothes or symbols of royalty, he looked nothing like Odin. You--?” she pointed at Loki. “You _sound_ like Odin, but your Thor did not and if I’d looked at him and seen Odin at all, I would have cooked and eaten him myself.” 

And then, “But he’s not a new prisoner. You said it’s only been a few days but Thor has been a gladiator for the better part of six months now.” 

“Not six months.” Tony spoke for the first time in several minutes. “We only left Earth a few days ago, he’s only been gone a few days.”

“Time moves different here.” Loki hazarded a guess, and the Valkyrie nodded. “I can feel it in the center of my being. What is it that affects the time?” 

“The Grandmaster. The _Grandmaster_ controls everything here. You and I, your mate-- we are all at his mercy. You’ve come to rescue your mate but that’s impossible. The only way for a slave to free themselves from the tournament is to beat the champion but no one has ever beaten the champion.” 

She shook her head. “Your mate is as good as lost.” 

“We _have_ to save him.” Loki said immediately, and she responded right back, “Well you can’t. _No one_ survives the champion. You are better off finding a way off this planet and returning to Asgard where you are safe. Grieve your loss, be grateful you are alive and move on.” 

“Like you did?” Tony challenged. “Because I understand wanting to disappear in a bottle or be lost in the dark and _grieve_ , but I refuse to do that this time. I’m not leaving here without my mate. Thor never gave up on me, and I won’t give up on him.” 

“You will _die_ trying to save him.” 

“No.” Tony braced himself and called his powers up, lit the floor red hot with the force of his magic. “But anyone who gets in my way will. Take us to Thor.” 

“I’m telling you--” 

“Take us to Thor.” Loki ran blue and red, his skin etching with the marks of _Jotun_ and horns curving out from the top of his head. “Get us close to our love and we’ll just see what happens.” 

***********

The room closest to the arena wasn’t much more than a concrete box with narrow, vertical slits for windows. There was a broken control panel against the wall, a short flight of stairs and a boarded over door on one side, and what was left of a chair in the corner. It had long been abandoned, long been _forgotten_ judging by the dust covering the console and the way the entry door squealed when Valkyrie forced it open. 

“What was this place used for?” Tony ran his fingers curiously over the busted buttons, over runes and letters he had no way of deciphering. “Why would they have a room so close to the arena?” 

“And what happened here?” Loki gestured towards the boarded over door and the dark stains on the stone steps. 

“Exactly what you think happened.” Valkyrie peered through the narrow windows to watch the fight currently in progress. The stands weren’t full, the competitors battling only for the amusement of a few, only because the Grandmaster liked something to be going on constantly so if he happened to glance down from his penthouse suite, he’d have something to look at. It wouldn’t be a fight to the death, honestly the two creatures were hardly trying and there was no blood spilt yet. 

There had been plenty of blood spent the _previous_ night though, and this close to the arena the air was still heavy with the scent of copper and death so she repeated, “Exactly what you think happened. That panel controlled the arena. One button and the lights went off and the gladiators fought in the dark. Another, and the walls opened up to lob spears at whichever fighter happened to be in the way. The big one electrified the floor if the Grandmaster got too bored and just wanted to watch them die.” 

Tony jerked his hand away from that particular button, shot another look at the door and guessed, “Someone didn’t appreciate being messed with during their fight and took their rage out on the person who sat here.” 

“Now the Grandmaster controls it all from his seat up top.” she confirmed. “And it’s worse. Everything about that set up is _worse_ except that it gives us this room to sit unseen and wait for Thor to fight. Block the doors so no one can get in, and once the line up for tonight is announced we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“I’m not much of a wait and see type of person.” Tony picked up a strand of wires curiously, eyes darting over to the hook ups at the console and then back to the mostly destroyed buttons. “That always seems… boring.” 

“We need a plan, my love.” Loki watched Tony with a half smile curving his mouth. Tony was thinking, mind moving lightning fast, piecing things together that Loki could never hope to understand. He had magic but Tony had an understanding of all things mechanical that bordered on preternatural and regardless of the situation, of the realm and this horrifying planet-- wires were wires, mechanics were mechanics and _here_ Tony was wholly in his element. 

“He’s right.” Valkyrie still grimaced just a little looking at Loki, unable to help the reaction to someone who looked so much like _Hela_. “The Grandmaster cannot be tricked, but he could be surprised if we acted quickly enough. We need a plan of attack.” 

“I have a plan.” Tony held up the cluster of wires. “Attack.” 

“With wires?” she asked blankly. “What-- how--” 

“Just let me work.” Tony rolled up his sleeves and crouched down to get a better look at the console. “Lo, the doors?” 

“What is he doing?” Valkyrie whispered as Loki lay a layer of frost down to seal the entry door off. “What can he do with a broken, antiquated console?” 

“After three months of torture, Anthony escaped a faction of terrorists and a cave deep in the desert mountains with nothing more than a box of scraps.” Loki cut a look towards the Valkyrie, tempted to lash out at her for doubting his mate, quieting his tongue because he knew she just didn’t _know_. “He has built engines that would move a space ship, he created a reactor that could power entire cities then miniaturized it and used it to keep himself alive for years. The fire storm inside him is powerful but more powerful than that is his _mind_. My Anthony will create a miracle with nothing more than a few wires and a broken machine, just you watch.” 

“Not creating a miracle, Lo.” Tony denied. “Not a miracle. A _weapon_.” 

“A weapon then.” Valkyrie nodded, but she still looked unconvinced, watched out the narrow windows uneasily as more and more spectators filtered into the arena. “Sure.” 

**********

Far above the arena and the abandoned room where Tony was creating something _big_ , the Grandmaster sat on his overlong couch and tapped his foot along to the synthesized beat playing all around him. 

It couldn’t be called music, he didn’t really listen to music. A being as old as he both loved and hated all kinds of music. Time worked different in his realm so he could listen to the same song for an hour or a million songs in the span of a minute and regardless, he ended up bored with it. He _imported_ creatures from all over the cosmos and each brought a piece of culture, a favorite color, a breath of music, something new to Sakaar and the Grandmaster absorbed it all. 

He absorbed it all and then he was _bored_ so he turned to the past time that had endured since the beginning-- through Eternals, through celestials, through the rise and fall of every Kingdom and realm and every god and demi-god and mortal that thought themselves important-- the past time of _death_.

“Kill that one, the one in blue.” 

His name was En Dwi Gast but it had been a millenia and a millenia again since anyone had known _anyone_ that remembered it. _Grandmaster_ suited him better, for he was a creator of tournaments, a ruler of pawns, first a player and then a master of games. The entire universe was simply a contest, one side pitted against the other, brother against brother, family against family, friends turned to enemies and lovers turned to…

“Kill him.” he said again, with a lazy wave of his hand. Death never ceased to amuse him, the different colors of blood and life forces, the writhing of a losing corpse, the faint stench of butchered souls. “The-- the one in the blue there. I like that shade of blue, when he’s done bleeding on it take a sample and take it to my wardrobe, I want that shade of blue.”

There was something _new_ on Sakaar today. The Grandmaster wasn’t a planet in the way the celestials were planets, the way those near-gods could create life on their own core and then exist outside it as well, but he was _Eternal_ so he knew every person on his realm, he knew every soul and the beat of every step and on the days En Dwi Gast chose to listen he knew even the _heartbeat_ of all the ones he called subjects. 

And today, there was something new. Something unusual in the depths of Sakaar. The Grandmaster’s favorite Scrapper hadn’t come by to see him, the tunnels beneath the castle had been noisy with the sound of intruders, there was a scent in the halls that didn’t belong, something sweet and edged in iron and it set the Grandmaster on edge. 

Not enough to stop the tournament but enough to make him irritable and cross, his laughter short and his eyes narrowed as he watched one competitor after another fall and fall and fall and be dragged off in pieces. The night stretched on and the _uncomfortable_ grew worse until it was like a physical itch under his skin and by the time the champion was roaring, banging at the gates and ready to taste some blood, the Grandmaster wanted to taste some blood too. 

“Bring in the contender.” he ordered. “Bring him in. Let’s have a real fight, let’s go. Let’s go!” 

The contender strode into the ring as confident as he had every time before and the Grandmaster smiled just a little bit. The crowd was in for a good fight tonight. Sure at first the contender had rebelled. He had shouted at the old man about cutting his hair, he’d resisted the armor and having to use swords instead of a hammer, he had raged and flickered little sparks from his hands and En Dwi Gast had _laughed._

Then the contender had taken to the arena and decimated his first, second, tenth, _twenty fifth foe_ and no one was laughing anymore. 

The contender was fierce but he was beautiful too. Beautiful and rugged even with newly short hair, a missing eye and a permanent scowl. The Grandmaster preferred his bed partners willing though, _truly_ willing, not willing on fear of death. The contender had refused his rather illicit proposition with a blast of curses that had shocked most in the room to silence, and it had never come up again. 

The Grandmaster had no intention of being denied _again_.

Besides, it was half arousing just to watch the contender _fight_ so the Grandmaster contented himself with that. 

Tonight was going to be incredible. The as of yet undefeated contender matched against the never bested champion. A demi god against a monster. Beauty and the Beast and a _Bloodbath_. 

“Bring it on.” The Grandmaster muttered, leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands between his knees. “Bring it on.” 

The fight began like all the others-- swords and brute strength, the crowd screaming and the air spoiling with the smell of adrenaline and pain. The champion was huge but the contender was quick, the contender was strong but the champion was some horror dragged from the depths and unleashed upon the surface and no one-- _no one_ \-- stood a chance. 

Unbelievably, the contender got one, two strikes in, sank his blades into the champions skin and spilled black liquid like oil from its veins. The resulting scream ripped through the arena and burst ear drums, sent the crowds cowering but the Grandmaster only grinned and shifted further forward, entertained for the first time in days. 

Oh yeah this was going to be _good_. 

On and on the fight went, back and forth, cutting and stabbing, neither contender nor champion ceding any ground or gaining the upper hand and just when the Grandmaster was starting to think he’d have to make room in the penthouse apartments for a second champion--

\--the arena went dark. 

“What is that, I didn’t do that.” He grabbed for his controller and jammed the buttons so the lights would come back on. “What happened? What happened?” 

The entire complex _boomed_ then, shuddered and _heaved_ and thousands of spectators screamed as the balconies and stands vaporized beneath them, huge walls crumbling and the ground shaking as massive hunks of rock slammed into it. The champion fell pinned beneath a piece of wall, the contender darted for cover with his shield over his head to fend off the worst of the mess and the crowds scattered in sheer panic, trampling each other in their haste. 

The Grandmaster could only watch in confusion as the dust and debris began to settle and an eerie blue figure stepped from the long abandoned control room beneath the arena. The blue figure was joined by one glowing red and gold, and he startled when an amplified voice shouted--

“Grandmaster! We have come for Thor Odinson of Asgard!” 

“Uh….” The Grandmaster tilted his head, pursed his lips. “...what is going on?” 

“Grandmaster!” Came the call again. “Allow us to leave here with our mate and I’ll leave the rest of your home standing. Deny us, and I’ll bring it to the ground with you inside.” 

“Huh.” he snapped his fingers and someone hurried to click the projector on, broadcasting his image nearly fifty feet tall in the middle of the ruined arena. 

“Hello down there.” En Dwi Gast smiled and his monstrous projection smiled ghastly at the intruders. “I don’t know who you are or why you ruined my game, but I don’t appreciate it.” 

“I am Anthony of Asgard.” the glowing one was a _mortal_ and the Grandmaster rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. “And this is my mate, Loki Odinson. We have come for your contender. He is ours, and we are taking him home.” 

“You came for my contender.” He repeated. “Well see, that won’t work. Rules are rules, _Anthony of Asgard_ , and the rules state that gladiators have to win their freedom. Defeat the champion, get to go free. You dropped a piece of ceiling on my champion, you didn’t fight him, and I’m pretty sure the contender is dead which means no one goes free.” 

The Grandmaster leaned forward and so did his projection, looming over the intruders. “No one goes free. Regardless of what you did to my arena, now you are mine. I will give you the same opportunity to earn your freedom. Fight my champion, and if you win, I’ll let you go.” 

His fingers hovered over the controller bar that ensured no one _ever_ won as the champion stirred and stretched and growled from beneath the debris. “Before you die, do me a favor and tell me. What sort of mortal has powers like that? Does Midgard have wizards now?” 

“I’m not a wizard.” Tony retorted, and Loki bared his teeth in a snarl up at the projection. “And these days I’m decidedly _less_ than mor--” 

“Anthony! Look out!” Thor broke out from the rubble and threw himself at Tony, taking him to the ground just as what was left of the walls opened and unleashed a volley of sharply pointed spears. “Loki!” 

“I see them.” Loki cut his hands through the air and shattered the spears with a wall of ice but the action meant he was distracted for one deadly second and Tony _screamed_ from beneath Thor’s bulk as the champion heaved the rocks away and charged for their mate. 

“Stay down.” Thor warned Tony, his hands shaking and gentle at Tony’s side but tone firm. “Let Loki and I fight this beast. Please. We will survive this thing but I will not survive losing you after only now seeing you again.”

“I’ve missed you.” Tony only took a second to notice Thor’s shorter hair and the new scar, crushed a kiss onto Thor’s lips. “But you and Loki are not fighting this alone.” 

Tony channeled his powers into a surge of strength and shoved out away from Thor and back to his feet. “And you certainly aren’t going to lose me.”

“He’s weak, Thor!” Loki put aside the need to run to their mate and slid instead into a defensive position as the champion roared and huffed and lumbered towards them. “Anthony is weak, do not let him fight!” 

“Anthony, stay back!” Thor yanked his helmet off and pushed it over Tony’s head, snapped his short blades longer and readied himself to re-engage the beast through the newly destroyed arena. “The Grandmaster has all manner of tricks to ensure no one wins, let Loki and I--” 

“ _No_.” 

“My love, listen! This creature is--” 

“He’s about to be dead.” Tony said grimly and lit his fire higher, brighter and hotter until Thor had to shield his eyes and even Loki backed away from the heat when it seared uncomfortably at his skin. “The creature is about to be _dead_.” 

*************

...when it was all said and done, the Grandmaster sat alone in his viewing room with mouth open and arms limp by his side. 

The creature lay dead and smoldering, most of its skin burned off and its throat ripped open where one a super heated blade had cut through its jugular. It stank like death and bile, it’s fat turned to liquid beneath the bright lights, its blood pouring acid and eating through the floor into the ground beneath. 

The floor was riddled with shards of ice like _glass_ from the Jotun deflecting everything the Grandmaster flung from the walls, the huge pieces of ceiling and arena enclosures lay in various states of _melted_ from the mortal’s out of control fire. 

Around him, the castle was in chaos, panicked screams and angry roars echoing off the walls as the prisoners, slaves and gladiators were released from their cages and set free to wreak havoc. Someone had deactivated the mainframe that controlled the devices in their neck and the Grandmaster hadn’t realized until he’d jammed the control that would bring the contender to his knees and nothing had happened. 

_Nothing had happened_ and the Grandmaster sat there in stunned silence as his game collapsed around him, the captive players roaming free, the champion dead and contender victorious alongside a mortal and a Frost Giant, his arena in shambles and every one of his carefully laid protocols wasted. 

So stunned, he barely moved when one of his own ships blasted into the decimated space and his favorite scrapper jumped down to urge the other three inside before leaving again. 

So stunned, he barely remembered his own escape hatch when the angry mob came banging and pounding at his door. 

So stunned, the near all powerful Grandmaster didn’t even raise a protest when alarms signaled that his ship had been stolen and was escaping the atmosphere. 

All En Dwi Gast could think about was the old tale told among the ancients about heart beats, about _hjartslatturs_ , about how souls could twine and act as one and share magic and power and defeat anything in their path…

...and then he remembered the mortal screaming as he burned, and the Grandmaster wondered briefly if the _hjartslattur_ bond would be enough to save him. 

************

“How is he?” Valkyrie didn’t take her eyes off the approaching wormhole as she coaxed the ship for all it had, blasting away from Sakaar just as fast as she could manage. “Has he woken yet?” 

“No.” Thor cradled an unconscious Tony carefully at his chest, smoothed trembling fingers through the dark hair and the remnant of blood on Tony’s skin. “No he-- he hasn’t woken.” 

“My love.” Loki lifted Tony’s tunic to show Thor the burns etched up their mate’s left side. “He didn’t have these when we came to find you.” 

Thor cursed low and terrified and clutched Tony tighter. “ _Elskan min_ , I told you not to fight. I told you to stay back. I told you to--” 

His voice cut off in a sob and Loki hid his own tears as he iced his palms and tried in vain to cool Tony down, to ease the fire raging beneath their mate’s skin and burning him from the inside out. Tony had collapsed shortly after stepping into the ship with Valkyrie and nothing they had done could rouse him. His pulse was too faint, his skin too hot, the magic Tony had earned as mate to both gods destroying him. 

“...I know someone who can help.” Loki whispered, and Thor made a desperate, pleading noise. “But it requires a trip back to the darkest realm. Back to Hela.” 

“ _Hela_?” 

“She’s the only one who could save him.” 

“We-- we can’t.” 

“We _must_.” Loki pressed cold lips to the burn as it crawled up Tony’s neck. “Or we will have to figure out how to say good-bye and Thor, my love, that is something I cannot do. It’s something I will not do.” 

“To Hela then.” Thor shifted Tony into one arm and wrapped the other around Loki. “If we must.” 

************

**Chapter Notes:**

_When I watched Ragnarok the first time and saw the ugly geometric look, I thought[“huh it looks like science class](https://www.tumblr.com/neue_web/iframe/edit/Structural%20Compounds:%20https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Chemical-structure-of-common-phenolic-compounds_fig1_234137696)” and I could never get that out of my mind and I thought it was something Tony would recognize too. _

_I stayed with my OG version of the Grandmaster and Valkyrie instead of updating them to better reflect Ragnarok? But then again I feel like “all powerful but bored so lets see someone die” Grandmaster and Valkyrie who is just lost and hurting after Hela and very much bitter towards the throne sort of fits canon too??_

_I couldn’t bring myself to add Hulk in since he wasn’t in the OG draft. One of the downsides of writing something before serious canon altering movies, right?_

_Tony being burned up his side from the powers was something I only had in rough drafts but man, post Endgame it hurts just a little bit more to write about his powers burning him from the inside out. Yikes._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure: This was supposed to be finished Monday but then I had one of those "oh, but what if..." thought processes and things got a little off track and here we are 3k words longer than the OG chapter and having introduced a completely different piece of lore to their dynamic which may or may not lead to future adventures?? 
> 
> Also, things get tense and angsty but then *hand wavey magicky science* happens to make that happily ever after happen. 
> 
> Enjoy!

_Hela’s Realm_

“I’m sorry for not escaping and returning home to you sooner.”

The ship stolen from the Grandmaster came out of hyperspace and slowed at the very outskirts of Hela’s realm. The systems came back online, Valkyrie stirred in the Captain’s chair and disengaged the auto-pilot and after Thor had checked on Tony, he settled heavy at Loki’s feet and leaned into his thigh. 

“I should have been home to help with Anthony.” he muttered, voice deep with remorse. “I am sorry you had to deal with this alone.”

“You are a giant, golden buffoon, do you know that?” Loki stretched and sighed, then twisted his fingers into Thor’s short hair and scratched at his scalp, gaze turned to where Tony lay strapped and secured across the chairs opposite them. Valkyrie had been _adamant_ that Thor could not hold Tony through hyperspace, and she had been _more_ adamant that Thor and Loki both be seated before they jumped through the portal. 

“I’ve seen bodies torn apart by hyperspace and my days of cleaning up Asgardian messes are done.” she’d stated, but the Valkyrie had still helped Thor stay steady as he slumped wearily into a chair, she’d still been almost gentle assisting Loki with making sure Tony was as comfortable as possible. 

Their love hadn’t stirred once for the duration of the journey, lost in unconsciousness that was quickly slipping towards _comatose_ and now that Loki and Thor were both awake, they couldn’t help watching each rise and fall of Tony’s chest and the barely visible thrum of his pulse beneath the burned skin. 

“A giant golden buffoon.” Loki repeated when the silence stretched thick and tense and _worried_ between them. “You were one when we were children, and you are one now.” 

“A giant golden buffoon?” Thor rested his head into Loki’s palm and closed his eyes against the threat of tears. It had been so long since he’d felt a kind touch that even Loki’s snark didn’t take away from how good the moment felt. “For believing it is my job to be at your side, to keep you and Anthony safe?” 

“For blaming yourself, because after being forcibly kidnapped and yanked across the cosmos, sold into slavery and forced to fight every day for the entertainment of an actual maniac, you didn’t manage to singlehandedly overthrow all of his guards, escape an unknown planet and cross the cosmos to return to Asgard.” Loki sighed overloud simply to be dramatic, simply to make Thor smile a little bit. “You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” 

“I can’t believe I actually missed you.” Thor did manage a tiny smile but his eyes were still shut tight, so Loki bent and lay featherlight kisses along the mangled scar at the right socket, kept one hand firmly in Thor’s hair and brushed the other across his cheek, through the untidy beard and down beneath Thor’s tunic to rest over his heartbeat. 

“ _Loki_.” Thor’s throat jerked when he swallowed, and Loki pressed his mouth to Thor’s ear and murmured, “My love. It’s alright. You’re safe with us again.”

Thor’s breath caught ragged and Loki curled further over his broad shoulders, clung tighter until Thor grabbed at his hand and held on until it hurt. 

“It’s alright.” Loki didn’t mention anything about the way Thor was shaking against him, or how Thor kept muttering quiet, almost desperate curses as he tried to get himself under control. “Thor, I’m here. I’m _here_.” 

He kept thinking about that day in the gazebo deep in Frigga’s garden when everything had finally changed between he and Thor, when Loki had finally put words to the trauma that made him scream at night, when he let his glamour slip and iced the air with his grief until frostbite had burned up Thor's arms and turned the Thunder god’s lips blue. But Thor hadn’t pulled away then, not from the truth of Loki’s heritage or the horror he had kept hidden for so long. Thor hadn’t pulled away and he hadn’t judged, he’d simply held Loki tight and whispered quiet words of comfort and reassurance until Loki had calmed again. 

_All your colors are beautiful,_ Thor had told him that day and now as Thor sat trembling in his arms, Loki whispered the same sort of quiet comfort, reassurances that both he and their mate would love Thor no matter what, that the short hair was beautiful and the scars made him look like a warrior of old. Loki crooned soft sweet nothings into Thor’s ear until those big shoulders bowed further and Thor breathed out a soul deep sigh of _release_. 

“There you are, lovely.” Loki murmured and Thor turned enough to capture his mouth in a grateful kiss. “And I _do_ love your hair this short. As of this moment, I officially have the best hair in Asgard.” 

“Our Anthony has the best hair.” Thor countered and Loki smiled through another kiss, bumping their noses together teasingly. 

“Yes, darling. Anthony has the best hair but he prefers _mine_ , so what does that tell you?” 

“You and Anthony are both effortlessly beautiful.” Thor scooted over so he was sitting between Loki’s knees and could rest his head against Loki’s stomach. The unconditional adoration from Loki warmed through to his weary heart and gave Thor the courage to mutter a perhaps selfish and unimportant but whole heartedly _honest_ question-- “What if Anthony no longer finds me attractive, Loki? I am no longer physically perfect, not with an eye missing and my face so scarred. And he loves my hair, but now it is so short. He won’t be able to pull it anymore.” 

Thor swallowed, his throat clicking dry. “What if he doesn’t want _me_ anymore?” 

“You are ridiculous.” Loki said immediately if not fondly. “You’re the size of a small building, my King. There are plenty of handholds for our love to use to climb you like the proverbial tree and sit on your--er-- _branch_.” 

Thor fought against a smile and _lost_. “I am being serious, Loki.”

“And so am I.” Loki held Thor a little closer. “You will always be perfection to us, Thor. _Always_. And you have not failed us in some way by not escaping on your own from the Grandmaster, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

Thor made a disgruntled noise and Loki paused to gather his thoughts. 

“When you disappeared through the portal, our Anthony collapsed. I had to take him home to the healers but as soon as he was well enough to speak, he demanded to find you. I wanted to leave him behind and come alone to find you because I worried for his health, but Thor you have to know we were never going to sit and simply wait for you to come home. Never. It is not _your_ job to protect us, it is our duty--” 

He motioned between them, and then over to where Tony lay so still. “It is _our_ duty to protect one another. To be there for one another, to create a safe space to call home. If we would have known time moved so differently in Sakaar…” 

Loki paused again but this time his fingers tightened in Thor's hair. “ _I_ am sorry, Thor. We came as soon as we were able and I am sorry we could not find you sooner.” 

“Tis not your fault, love.” 

“And neither is it yours.”

They were quiet watching Tony for a long minute, counting the wheezing breaths and watching his chest rise and fall. Tony’s fingers were clenched tight into fists, sweat beading at his brow and a fever flushed in his cheeks, the _burn_ from the internal fire scarring at his hairline now. 

“How--” Loki tried and failed to keep his voice from breaking as Tony shuddered through a particularly rough tremor. _What was happening to their love?_ “How did you end up on Sakaar? Was it the Grandmaster himself who reached through cosmos and snatched you from us?” 

“...it was Surtur.” 

“The fire demon?” 

“That’s the one.” Thor nodded against Loki’s thigh. “I thought Odin killed him some half a million years ago, but it turns out the All Father wasn’t only secretive about _you_. Surtur is prophesied to bring about Ragnaork and the fall of Asgard, I am prophesied to _stop_ Ragnarok. When Thanos was defeated and the balance of power in the cosmos shifted, Surtur was given the strength to rise up and reach out to take me. He wanted to kill me before I had a chance to learn of his plans.” 

“Did you kill him instead?” Loki wanted to know and Thor shook his head in frustration, “Without Mjolnir, fighting Surtur it was impossible. I managed to fend off his hordes for some time, but they cornered me against the lava falls. Twas only the slightest shimmer to my side that told me a portal was hidden there, and that portal dumped me in Sakaar.” 

“Where the Valkyrie found you and sold you to the Grandmaster.” Loki’s lips thinned in disapproval when Valkyrie stepped out from the Captain’s chair and into their area. “Isn’t that right?” 

“On Sakaar you are either a fighter or food.” she shrugged unrepentantly. “And that many muscles and not an ounce of fat makes for shitty food, I was doing us all a favor by not cooking His Majesty over an open flame.” 

“Charming.”

“We’re nearing the castle.” Valkyrie said then, gesturing out the windows of the ship. “I’ll take you this far but not a step further. I’ve faced the hag before and have no intention of doing it again. From here on out, you’re on your own.” 

“You’ll stay by with the ship?” Thor wanted to know, moving to undo Tony’s straps and cradle their mate carefully in his arms. “In case we need to run?” 

“I’ll be here.” she replied, shifting uneasily on her feet as the castle loomed black against a blacker sky. “And for what it’s worth, Prince… I am sorry for selling you into that life. Too long on Sakaar has made me forget even the most decent parts of myself.” 

“Nonsense.” Even this tired, this worn down and this _worried_ Thor managed a friendly smile and conciliatory nod of his head. “You were correct, I would have been terrible food. And if you’d honestly forgotten the decent parts of yourself, you wouldn’t be here helping us. You are still worthy of a seat in Asgard, Valkyrie, should you ever choose to come home.” 

“...thank you.” 

Valkyrie watched from the Captain’s seat as Thor and Loki disappeared into the gloom. The lights of the ship penetrated the dark far less than they should have and she sank down into the seat a little further, crossed her arms against an imaginary chill and planted her feet solid on the floor so she wouldn’t _run_. 

This place was the place of nightmares, a place of death and destruction and _loss_. She could suffocate in the too thick air, could feel it in the back of her throat along with the screams of her sisters and the one she’d loved. 

“Hela.” Valkyrie whispered, and the word tasted like the blood from her split lip as she bit down hard so she wouldn’t scream. “I should have cut the black heart from your chest myself.” 

**********

**********

“So you’ve returned.” Hela didn’t even bother looking up when Thor and Loki finally made it to her throne. She had been staring at the flame Tony had left behind for _ages_ now, watching the gold and red flicker and twist and dance in it’s form above the pedestal. “Did your thoughtless gift of power finally destroy the mortal? I warned you, didn’t I?” 

“You told us you remember what it was like to give the one you loved too much of yourself.” Loki pushed past Thor to approach the throne and the mercurial goddess. “So I know you must remember the pain of watching them come apart at the seams because of your love.” 

“Oh yes.” Hela’s sigh seemed to come from the very depths of her absent soul as she cut her green eyes first over Loki, and then over Thor, lingering only briefly at Tony’s still form. “Yes, I remember the way she screamed and called for me as her body shredded apart, and I certainly remember not being able to save her. That is not a moment even the millenia could erase.” 

“Then please.” Loki stepped onto the first stair cautiously. “Please help us save our mate. The healers in Asgard cannot help him and there’s no reason to bother asking the Midgardians. You hold power over a realm where neither life nor death can challenge you, and I know the flame Anthony left behind will have given you some of your strength back. Please help us.” 

Hela was quiet for a long time, then pursed her lips and pointed one long finger at Thor. “You know, I assumed you looked like Freya-called-Frigga, but that scar and injury make you look like Dad. Tell me, do you think and act like him too?” 

“In my youth I courted war the way the All Father had in the stories of his conquests.” Thor said gravely, shifted Tony just a little bit so he could feel the ragged edges of his ruined eye. “But as King, I’ve seen the error of my ways and learned to listen to the wisdom of the ages.” 

“Mmm.” her lip curled in a sneer. “Well, you certainly _sound_ like him, don’t you? Odin took endless pleasure in controlling the realms so long as he could purge the gold and gems from their lands to build his castle. But the moment he had taken all he could, the All Father turned to peace and lavishness and the soft life of a spoiled man. You’ve done the same.” 

“No.” Thor denied. “No, I haven’t taken from the other realms, but tried to reunite them and reopen avenues of trade and knowledge and culture. I’ve invited the Kings and their armies to Asgard to train alongside us. I’ve opened our libraries to their scholars and with the help of Loki’s silver tongue and our mate’s intelligence we have expanded our knowledge and learning. No longer is Asgard a conquering realm, neither is it one to sit idly and let the others pass her by. I have learned to be a fair and wise King with my mates at my side.” 

“The Jotun and the mortal.” she said flatly. “The almighty King of Asgard is content to expand his library and share his meals simply because a Frost Giant and a human find him attractive?” 

“You will not insult the _hjartslattur_ bond by diminishing it only to _attraction_.” Loki interrupted before Thor could so much as take a breath, freezing the very particles in the air as he cut his hand across to silence the goddess. “We are here to ask for help, but I will not let you--” 

“--you _will_ let me do as I please, because this is _my_ realm not--” 

“Hela.” _Thunder_ rolled low around them when Thor spoke, and while Loki simply bowed his head and stepped away in deference to his King, Hela’s lips parted curiously at the effortless show of power. 

“ _Sister_.” Thor held Tony careful careful as he went down to one knee, kneeling in front of the Queen and seeming not to notice as lightning crackled around his feet and glowed in his one good eye. “I am begging you. _We_ are begging you. Save our mate. Do not punish Anthony for the actions and consequences of a millenia past. Please.” 

Loki waved the frost in the air away and inclined his head respectfully, held his breath and waited as Hela only _watched_ them. 

With the light flickering on the sharp planes of her face, Hela looked more demon than goddess, more monster than Queen and with her gaze narrowed and brow furrowed, she looked almost angry. 

And perhaps she _was_ a little angry. 

After thousands of years alone, the first and only visitors to her realm had come from Asgard, from Odin’s own home and now needed her help not just once but twice. Hela _wanted_ to be angry, she wanted to gather the powers Anthony’s light had restored and _unleash_ , quiet Thor’s thunder with a show of real power, wipe the arrogance from Loki’s face with a snap of her fingers, wanted to draw the fire from the mortal’s body and use it as her own….

… and Thor looked so much like Odin with the scar marring his perfect features, but there was more love and devotion in his expression than Hela had ever seen from the All Father in all their centuries ruling together. 

Loki looked so much like _her_ and though Hela hadn’t figured out if it was a trick of Jotun mischief or a purposeful glamour by Odin that made she and the Frost Giant nearly twins, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the pain writ across his face, the centuries of _knowing_ that matched so much of what she knew in her own heart. 

The mortal’s only crime was loving and being loved by two gods. His downfall was being the prophesied _hjartslattur_ and now he was being punished by way of a slow, painful death. Certainly he could have stayed behind in Asgard while Loki went searching for the other, surely he could have conserved his power instead of no doubt doing whatever it took to save his mate from the Grandmasters clutches, there was no doubt that he could have left Hela here alone in the dark until Ragnarok split the sky and unleashed vengeance upon Asgard and the other realms. 

Anthony of Asgard could have left Hela alone in the dark, but he _hadn’t_. 

“Fine.” Hela said before she thought to control her tongue or take it back. “Fine, I’ll help your mate. But it won’t be easy, nor will it be quick or kind, do you understand?” 

“Please just save him.” The lightning crackled at Thor’s fingers, stark white but harmless where it touched Tony’s ravaged skin. “Please.” 

“You, Laufey’s child.” Hela stood up from her throne and gestured to Loki. “Help me. The only way to bring your _hjartslattur_ back to living is to bond him with something more powerful than the pull of death. There is only one such thing in my realm, and you Frost Giants are able to control it better than the other species. Come along.” 

“The Frost Giants.” Loki repeated. “There are only two things the Jotun hold sway over-- the Casket of Ancient Winters and the Tessaract. Both call to us as relics, but I know of no other--” 

“The Tessaract is as ancient and elemental as the Aether, you simply haven’t discovered the true power hidden with in both.” she cut in. “Frost Giants are drawn to the cosmic stones because your kind is a force of nature set in humanoid form, elements recognize elements and just like you gravitate towards the Casket and the Tessaract, so too will you gravitate towards and be able to manipulate the Aether.” 

“The Aether.” Loki’s throat jerked as he swallowed, and behind him Thor back away several steps, shielding Tony from the liquid horror that seeped over Hela’s throne and hovered in the air, the Aether awoken by the opportunity to bond with a new host.

“Loki, no.” Thor whispered, and held Tony all the tighter. “No, the Aether is a creation older than the known world, unable to be corralled or controlled. We cannot allow her to bond it with our mate.” 

“We will lose Anthony if we do not.” Loki whispered back. “I do not want to believe she is correct, but I know she is. Only something beyond life or death can save Anthony from the brink, and while the Aether has the capacity for great harm, it is honestly, truly neutral.” 

“The last time the Aether was unleashed, darkness fell for _centuries_.” 

“The Aether is not inherently evil.” Loki argued quietly, tiredly. “My love, I have studied the Aether for decades. It is not inherently evil and neither is it inherently destructive. It rises and falls on the will of its host, tears the weaker ones apart, magnifies evil in the twisted souls, and though I’ve never heard of a righteous being controlling the Aether, I have to believe it’s possible. Anthony will be a deserving host.” 

“The Aether twists reality.” Thor argued, clutching Tony tighter to his heart. “What if it takes him away from us? What if his mind is lost beneath hallucinations and nightmares?” 

“The Aether can only contort reality to the will of its host.” Loki ran gentle fingers through Thor’s beard. “It will take a strong body and a stronger mind to bring it to heel, but it could save our Anthony. We should try.” 

“I’m scared that it will tear him apart faster than his fire.” Thor admitted hoarsely. “His body is not strong right now, nor is his mind. I’m too afraid to try.” 

“And I’m too afraid that if we do nothing, we will lose him in the very next breath.” Loki pressed his palm to Tony’s heart and his forehead to Thor. “Do you trust me, my love?” 

“...yes.” 

“Then we have to _try_.” 

*************

The Aether was very nearly sentient, very nearly it’s own creature and there was no hurrying such a being as it bonded with a new host. 

Hela brought the Aether forward with the force of her will, urged it towards Tony’s prone form and directed it lower and lower until the Aether balked at the scent of near death and thinned away. 

Hela snapped her fingers and Loki froze the air in every direction until the Aether hissed and rolled and finally funneled itself in the only direction that didn’t hurt-- directly in to the mortal laying half dead on the stone table.

Thor sat slumped against a nearby crumbled wall and watched the process with his eye half closed, his entire body fighting the need to _sleep_ months of being tense and afraid.

He didn’t want to look as Loki coaxed Tony’s lax mouth open and the Aether dipped a tendril hesitantly along the red lips, but he couldn’t look away either, couldn’t _not_ watch as Loki slid into his Jotun form to keep the ice steady and Hela’s green eyes burned brilliant eerie jade as she worked. 

There was no hurrying this sort of thing, and Thor was still watching hours later as the last of the Aether disappeared into Tony’s body and Loki finally called his ice back. All that was left now was to sit and wait to see if the Aether would reject Tony as host or bond with him and temper the _burn_ searing underneath their mate’s skin. 

Wait wait and _wait_ , and Loki came to Thor’s side, then crawled into Thor’s lap when the Thunder god opened his arms in invitation. Loki swirled his cape up and around them both, tucked his head into Thor’s shoulder and curled close over his loves heart beat.

“I missed you.” Thor murmured quiet, _rough_ and Loki nodded and pressed tighter. 

“My love, my King, we missed you too.” 

Hours _passed_ , and the flame from Tony had gifted shone bright in the darkness of the throne room, glowed gentle at the stone table where mortal lay invaded and overtaken by the Aether, barely touched where Hela sat alone and unmoving in her throne and flickered only lightly at Thor and Loki where they rested curled together in the shadows. 

Hel was dark and Hel was silent and even now with three additional people present and the Aether active and bonding, Hel was almost frighteningly _still_. The terrors that creeped in the dusk stayed hidden in their dens and corners, the monsters that hissed and rattled silent set low behind rocks, even the air drooped heavy and still and Loki found himself struggling to find enough air for a full breath. 

“Breathe, sweetheart.” Thor rolled his shoulders and called the wind, not able to conjure more than a slight breeze in the emptiness of Hel, but trying all the same. “ _Breathe_.”

“How long have you been able to bring lightning into your hands like that?” Loki inhaled slow and exhaled on a question, picked up Thor’s hand and wove their fingers together. “Was that with Surtur or did it happen on Sakaar?” 

“It was on Sakaar. I nearly died one night in the arena.” Thor glanced over Loki’s head to where Tony was still stretched out motionless. “Beaten almost to death and in the last moment, I flashed to the All Father. I’m not sure if it was Heimdall reaching for me or perhaps a vision blessed by Frigga and called forward in my moment of need.” 

“What did Odin tell you?” 

“That my power was never limited to Mjolnir, only amplified by her. And that when I realized I was stronger than even he, I wouldn’t need my hammer to call my lightning.” Thor turned his head to nuzzle into Loki’s throat, dotted light kisses along the line of his sharp jaw and finally pressed his lips to Loki’s temple. “I don’t remember what happened that night in the arena, but there was nothing left of my competitor when I woke again. Nothing but ashes and I’m not sure what that means.” 

“...I’m not sure either.” Loki admitted in a hushed tone. “I cannot imagine a day when Odin would announce you stronger than he was--” 

“--which is why it was a vision, and not a memory I suppose.” Thor finished. “When all this is over and our mate is home and safe again with us, I will go to the healers and see what they think it means. ‘Tis one thing to call the storms when I am angry or grieving or deep in loving you and our Anthony, but to fight and battle and wage war with the lightning moving uncontrolled through my body is something else altogether.” 

Loki was quiet again, and after another moment Thor prompted, “Tell me what else is on your mind, Loki. There is something deeper than my lightning or worry about Anthony’s injuries. What are you thinking about?” 

“Nothing that matters more than making sure our love is healthy again.” Loki deflected. “Do you think the Aether will heal his burn marks or--” 

“Loki.” Thor interrupted, and the wind picked up stronger around them. “I thought we moved past you hiding your thoughts and fears from me. Tell me what you are thinking.” 

“We _have_ moved past my hiding from you.” Loki admitted reluctantly, and was rewarded with another kiss at his temple. “Tis a selfish thing to worry about right now when we are so uncertain what will happen with Anthony…” 

“...but?” 

“...but I need to ask you a question, and I need you to tell me the truth.” he waited until Thor nodded in agreement before finishing, “Before we left Asgard to fight the Titan, Anthony went to a dungeon somewhere and unleashed his powers to an extent that even _Hela_ knew about what he’d done. Anthony has never spoken of it, and when I asked him to tell me, he refused to the point of anger. Will you tell me what happened?” 

And softer, “Will you tell me why I don’t have nightmares anymore?” 

“Loki.” Thor sighed heavily. “Do not go searching for revelations that will only hurt.” 

“We have moved past hiding from each other, Thor.” Loki said pointedly. “And I am not afraid to know the dark things anymore. Please tell me what happened and why.” 

“It bothered our love that you had nightmares after you were kept by the Others.” Thor began slowly. “He would sit and tell me all the ways I soothed his bad dreams when we were at the compound, how much thunder and lightning brought him comfort because he knew it meant I was near by and watching over him.” 

“Yes, sometimes he hears the thunder and is immediately at peace.” Loki agreed. “Continue.” 

“Anthony told me he thought his nightmares ceased because he was no longer afraid of the people who caused them.” Thor continued softly, holding Loki tighter. “He had come to realize that the Captain and the Soldier were simply people, simply men desperate to save each other and not the monsters he’d built them up to be with his fear and memories and anger.” 

“I still don’t understand what that has to do with a dungeon.” 

“Anthony thought that if the monsters causing your nightmares were no longer _monsters_ , “Thor emphasized. “Then you wouldn’t have bad dreams anymore. If the things causing you fear ceased to exist, then you wouldn’t be afraid.” 

“He had Heimdall guide him to the place where you were kept by the Others.” Thor was barely even whispering now, the words almost inaudible. “Then he went and announced his position as our mate, announced his intention to free you once and for all from the nightmares… and then he burned it to the ground.” 

“Burned the dungeon?” 

“Burned _everything_.” he corrected grimly. “Every _one_. Every creature and inhabitant of the dungeons was burned to ash, the rocks melted and anything left was turned to char. There was not a soul left alive, Loki. Anthony set out to erase your nightmares, and there is not anything left.” 

“Our mate did that?” Loki’s eyes widened in shock. “No-- that-- that isn’t like Anthony at all. Not senseless rage and mass murder, even of the creatures in those dungeons.” 

“Are you saying you wouldn’t do the same to the ones that hurt him?” Thor wanted to know. “If Anthony had asked you or I to be sure he was never bothered by the Captain again, or decided he could never forgive the Soldier for what happened?” 

“I'd tear their heart out and feed it to Fenrir myself.” Loki was quick to answer, and then quicker still to, “...oh. So our Anthony went to soothe my nightmares by erasing the terror in its entirety.” 

“After the true fashion of the ancient gods. Cleansing fire.” Thor’s gaze flicked to Hela when she stirred on the throne. “He never wanted to tell you because he never wanted you to worry or feel guilty for any imagined weight on his shoulders. If you know you would do the same and worse to anyone who dared break our mate’s heart, let him have this. Never tell him you know.” 

“He is far too fragile to hold so much power, Thor. To hold so much inside.”

“Anthony Stark has never been fragile a day in his life, my love.” Thor disagreed softly. “Brittle and hurt and scarred almost beyond repair yes, but never fragile. Never broken. He is strong enough to carry the weight of his actions.” 

“And now he will be stronger than ever.” Loki swallowed back another protest of their _hjartslattur_ being fragile, pushed through a lingering bolt of doubt that he was worth such an effort on Anthony’s part and motioned towards the table. “Look. The Aether stirs.” 

It started as a glow deep _deep_ below the surface of Tony’s skin, first barely there beneath the pallid color but slow rising to flush their mate _golden_. For a moment Tony looked healthy again, he pulled in a deep, audible breath and then another, his hands unclenched at his side--

\--- and then everything went _red_ and Tony arched off the platform screaming in pain as the Aether dug itself deep into his bones and _burned_ from the inside out. 

“Anthony!” Thor and Loki lurched for Tony’s side but were driven back by a blast of heat that seemed to cook the very air itself, their vision distorting as the atmosphere rippled and seized around Tony’s body. Even Hela recoiled from the scent of seared hair and smoldering clothes and she stumbled back further when the stones beneath Tony’s back began to liquefy, melting and melding and dripping into molten puddles on the raised dais. Tony’s clothing fell away with the stone, thread and fabric no match for a temperature that was dissolving the very boulders, leaving him bare and glowing as he kept _screaming_ and clawing at the table as it disintegrated in his grasp. 

“It’s killing him!” Thor could barely breathe through the super heated air, but he swept his cape up over his mouth and shouted, “Hela, the Aether is killing him! We have to stop this!” 

“It’s too late.” Hela’s words fell away beneath the screech of a hurricane force wind, a desert storm that shrieked through the throne room and whirled into a funnel above Tony’s contorting body. “It’s-- it’s too late. If the Aether has decided to reject him, there’s nothing we can do to save him.” 

“No!” Loki gathered the full force of his power and scattered ice into the air, frost up the melting legs of the table to freeze them in place. Thor _roared_ over the sound of the storm and let his fear and anger summon clouds to bring rain that Loki turned to ice as it fell. 

The Aether fought back against the attempt to control it, wracked Tony’s frame with flames that seared up the already scarred burn marks from Sakaar and crackled gold and bronze through the ruination until Tony’s entire side was branded like lava, his skin darkening black as his body failed to contain the full might of the elemental being, his wounds scoring bloody as the fire tried to leap from his soul and escape. 

Loki’s skin went blue with the effort of holding onto his powers against the heat that pressed relentless against them. His lips chapped and skin flaked dry, his mouth open wide as he tried to gasp for any air that wasn’t torturous. Thor called _more_ rain, _more_ clouds and Loki turned every drop of moisture to snow and ice and sleet to force the temperature back to something manageable but every one of their efforts failed, every one of their steps towards their mate driven back by a screech of fury from the Aether, even Hela’s attempts to call her recently awakened powers back to the forefront to help were rejected as a creature older than time _itself_ laid claim to their mate and refused to concede its grasp. 

The creatures of Hel scattered _terrified_ away from a force more deadly than they could ever be, the quiet was shattered by Tony’s screams and the guttural noise from the Aether, the stillness wrecked by the whirling of wind, the building of storms and crush of frost. The darkness was banished by the light pulsing from Tony’s form as his cells tore themselves apart trying to contain the Aether--

\--and Hela snapped swords from her hands, created weapons from the melted stones and the dredges of her magic that had been fueled by Tony’s gift of light and raised them high above the mortal’s body, made ready to drive them through his heart. 

“It’s the only way.” She told Loki and Thor through the haze of heat and searing air. “The kindest way. We cannot remove the Aether from a living host, but if the host is no longer living then it will be forced back to stasis. This is the only way, a kinder death for your mate than what the Aether will do to him.” 

“No.” Loki choked out, fell to his knees and _screamed_ into the ground, let the frostbite surge from his veins and shock up the side of the destroyed platform to try and pause the Aether in its movement. “No you will not take him from us!” 

“Tis the kinder thing to do.” Hela said again, but this time to Thor. Her green eyes glittered with purpose and jaw set stubborn but her voice was not cruel. “Thor Odinson, you know this is the kinder way to free your mate. Say goodbye to your _hjartslattur_.” 

“ **No**.” 

“If he cannot manage the Aether, the thing will rise out of control and there is not a force in the other realms that can come close to controlling it!” she shouted. “This has gone on too long, you cannot doom the cosmos because you care for a human!” 

The weight of a King was a terrible burden, one that sat heavy _heavy_ on Thor’s shoulders as he listened to Loki sob beside him, as he stared at the Aether tearing their love part, as he met the eyes of yet another Odin’s child that had been cast aside. 

He could not leverage the entire world against the life of any one creature, he could not justify the extermination of trillions because he loved the Aether’s host-- he couldn’t-- he couldn’t--

“We promised him he’d never be alone again.” Loki struggled back to his feet and grabbed onto Thor’s clothing, wound his fingers tight into the material and pleaded, “Thor, we promised Anthony he’d never be alone again. We can’t leave him alone now. We can’t. Don’t let her do this, don’t let him hurt like this without us. Please…” 

... _please_. 

Hela backed away when Thor and Loki took one step forward through the whirling wind, and then another. Their arms wrapped tight around each other, heads down against the onslaught, capes around their mouths so their lungs wouldn’t burn with each painful breath. One step and then two, three steps and then four while the Aether _raged_ and Tony’s form contorted to impossible angles. 

“You’ll die right alongside him.” the goddess cried in disbelief, but still Thor and Loki continued on, their skin tearing as flames licked out along their bodies, Laufey’s child flickering blue and then pale again, his eyes bloody red as he strained against the wind. 

“You’ll die!” She cried again, and it might have been an attempt to appease the Aether, it might have been some long buried spark of loyalty or protectiveness to her adjacent family that sent _black_ flying from her fingertips to barricade up in front of them and halt their process. “Stop! The Aether will destroy all of you!” 

“We promised he’d never be alone.” Thor tightened his arm at Loki’s waist and tried to hold him secure even as their feet slipped on the liquid rock and they nearly fell. “Not on Midgard, not on Asgard and not- not here. Not now. If the Aether will take him, it will have to take us too.” 

“ _Fools_!” 

“Anthony.” Loki reached Tony first, brought his frost full force to his hands so he could lay them on their love without melting skin. “Anthony darling, we’re here.” 

“ _Elskan min_.” Thor tore his cape off and held it down over Tony’s body, struggled against the Aether bucking and twisting to cover their mate if only for a few seconds as spell enhanced cloth began to smolder and fail over the heat. “Anthony our _hjarslattur_ , you are not alone.” 

Thor’s hand _burned_ when he placed it over Tony’s heart and tears of pain and loss dripped down the demigod’s face as he ignored the blisters and devastation to touch their foreheads together one last time. “My love.” 

Loki’s ice cold hand joined Thor’s over Tony’s heart, over where he’d been so hurt for so long, their combined magic easing the fire for just long enough for them to feel the steady _thump-thump_ of his life force buried deep beneath the Aether’s will. 

“He’s there.” Loki whispered in quiet, terrified awe. “He’s-- he’s still there.” 

“Then we’re not leaving him.” Thor said grimly, even as each inhale became painful and each exhale brought blood to his lips. “We’re not leaving.” 

The firestorm raged, but Thor and Loki didn’t move. The cloak burned away and Loki replaced it with his own. His blue skin blistered and wavered beneath the heat and Thor mustered cooling drops of there and gone again rain to keep his love safe. The Aether shrieked and growled as it tried to take over completely but the presence of Thor and Loki with their _hjartlattur_ blocked it’s path to the deepest parts of Tony and somehow, finally forever somehow--

\-- “He lives.” 

_He lives_. 

It was Hela who first felt the change, the incremental decrease in the temperature in her throne room, the first dimming of light as the darkness crept in around the corners. The Aether’s next violent movement was less than the one just before, the rock that had turned liquid at their feet thickened and then stilled as the heat drained from it. 

Loki’s skin healed first, and then Thor’s hand that had seared nearly to bone knit itself back together where it lay over Tony’s heart. The air grew lighter, the wind settled slower and the Aether started to withdraw itself into the mortals core as it’s power came under rein by something _else_. 

Thor and Loki didn’t dare move from Tony’s side as Hela’s realm settled around them, but the goddess stood away from the dias, her shoulders hunched and frame turned away. 

She knew full well that a mortal capable of taming the Aether wasn’t a mortal at all, and that knowledge worried her deep in her soul. 

Whoever Anthony of Asgard had become within the _hjartslattur_ bond was something she had never seen and something neither Asgard nor Midgard were ready to face.

... _Phoenix_. 

**********

“What did you do to me?” 

It could have been hours later, it could have been days later when the Aether finally ceded Tony’s body, when Hela’s realm returned to normal and Tony finally opened his eyes to consciousness. 

His voice was rough, but it mellowed to a register smooth and deeper than it had been before, the echo of _Aether_ rumbling along the words. “What the hell did you do to me? Thor? Loki?” 

“Settle, my love.” Thor’s face was still covered in the dust of wind storms, trails of tears tracking through the dirt on his cheeks and his fingers were trembling when he reached to touch Tony careful careful lest either of them burn. “All is well now.” 

“All is well.” Tony turned his cheek into Thor’s palm and sighed out shakily. “All is well because you are safe again, but what happened to _me_? Lo?” 

Loki was standing with arms folded, chewing anxiously at a hangnail as he watched their love for any sign of…. Of anything. What was left of his cape only covered Tony around the waist, and every inch of heat seared skin was on display, winding scars and thickened sores and every time Tony _breathed_ the skin wove back together and the Aether pulsed beneath the surface to blend the scars bronze and gold until he was marked from thigh to hairline with a winding, fiery brand that glittered against his body. 

It was horrifying to see the evidence of the trauma writ so plainly--

\--but it was _beautiful_ in the way the old gods were beautiful with their scars and damage and proof of battles waged and wars won. 

Their Anthony was _beautiful_ and Loki could scarcely breathe for it.

“Lo.” Tony frowned when Loki didn’t immediately move towards him. “What’s wrong, why are we back in Hela’s realm?” 

“You really don’t know?” she asked curiously, leaned forward in her throne to stare closer at him and the way the Aether pulsed in time to the mortals’ heart beat, golden beneath the center of his chest. “What is the last thing you remember?” 

“I remember seeing you in the arena.” Tony said to Thor, and the Thunder god pressed a kiss to his palm. “I remember the Grandmaster’s champion and blowing most of the arena to pieces when I turned that control panel into a bomb. I remember Thor knocking me out of the way and Loki stopping the weapons that came from the walls and I remember--” 

He hesitated now, put a hand to his sternum and pressed curiously against the thrum of Aether. “--I remember feeling like I was flying.” he finally finished. “I burned brighter than I ever had to force that monster back and away and then I don’t remember anything beyond the firestorm.”

“You burned so bright, you burned yourself out.” Hela spoke before either Loki or Thor could interject or try to explain. “Your mates brought you here nearly dead and to save you, I had to bond you with the Aether.” 

“Impossible. The Aether would have torn me apart.” Tony said immediately, because he had studied the entity right alongside Loki, had dedicated entire weeks in the library to knowing what he could about the cosmic pieces that held their reality together. “No mortal could hold the Aether in their soul.” 

“You are correct.” Hela said with a smile that sent chills right through Tony’s heart. “No _mortal_ could. How do you feel, Phoenix?” 

“ _Phoenix_?” 

“You burned, my love.” Loki finally spoke up, quiet and anxious, green eyes flickering red in distress. “You burned and then you fell unconscious and we were afraid you would never wake but then you--” 

“--then you rose.” Thor finished when Loki’s voice failed. “You rose and subdued the Aether.” 

“A true Phoenix.” Hela almost sounded… awed. “Born of fire and ended of fire, only to rise again. The love of two gods and the completion of the _hjartslattur_ bond has given life to an entirely new creature.” 

“Rise again.” Tony swallowed hard, his shoulders hunching forward as the Aether shifted inside him and tugged at his soul. “And what if I don’t rise again? What if I am not enough to control the Aether and I just _burn_?” 

“Darling, that won’t happen.” Loki moved to Tony’s side and sank into his frost, colder and colder as Tony’s skin heated and _heated_ and the air crackled around them. 

“Settle, _elskan min_.” Thor rumbled, and the wash of rain passed over Tony’s frame, soothing the flame as it crackled at his side. “We will learn how to manage this just like we have learned to manage everything else. All is well.”

Tony reached carefully to touch the scars bronzed up the side of his ribs, the intricate design that nearly looked like _feathers_ only a breath from catching fire. 

“You won’t let me burn?” he whispered, and Loki whispered back, “Never.” and Thor leaned in close to murmur, “Together we will only rise.” 

_Phoenix_. 

************

**Chapter Notes:**

Did not plan on the phoenix thing for Tony, 1000% in love with it now. New magicky HC for Tony Stark, it’s #NCTS Official. 

It was so fun to step back into this verse. I really thought the story was over after Storms, and I was sure it was over after Frost but revisiting it years down the road, I feel like I trust my own story telling enough to really widen this out into something great. 

As always, a special thank you to the readers who not only keep up with my writing shenanigans, but then also commission me to write even more. This story (and most of what I’ve written lately tbh) wouldn’t happen without you guys! Thank you! 


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